ilteilRELfGlON  •  ^ 


Wmio^ 


BV  4541  .J32  1900  5 
Jackson,  George,  1864-194b 
A  young  man's  religion 


-f^^e^tAUf^  o^te^ 


-tA^uyV. 


A    YOUNG    MAN'S    RELIGION 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

FIRST  THINGS  FIRST.     Addresses  to  Young  Men. 
Eighth  Thousand.     Crown  8vo,  cloth,  3s.  6d. 

"  Every  sermon  in  Mr.  Jackson's  volume  burns  with  a  great  earnest- 
ness. He  is  emphatically  a  man  with  the  best  of  all  messages." — 
Methodist  Tunes. 

' '  May  be  cordially  commended  to  all  young  men  for  the  high  yet  true 
ideal  of  life  inculcated,  and  the  clear  and  manly  and  arrestive  manner  in 
which  it  is  unfolded  and  enforced."— J)V(7/^w««. 

THE    TABLE-TALK     OF    JESUS.       And    other 
Addresses.     Fourth  Thousand.     Crown  8vo,  cloth,  3s.  6d. 

"  These  addresses  are  valuable  for  the  transparency  of  their  style,  for 
the  freshness  of  their  thought,  and  for  the  pointed  and  impressive  character 
of  their  practical  appeals.  Mr.  Jackson  is  a  master  in  the  art  of  popular 
address.  He  keeps  steadily  in  view  the  needs  of  everyday  life,  and  they 
who  turn  to  his  volume  for  instruction  and  stimulus  will  find  themselves 
well  rewarded." — Glasgozv  Daily  Mail. 

LONDON :    HODDER  AND  STOUGHTON 
27  Paternoster  Row 


A     YOUNG     MA 


OCT  10  1924,     1 


ICAL  %l^ 


RELIGION 


BY    THE 

REV.   GEORGE  JACKSON,  B.A. 


LONDON 
HODDER    AND    STOUGHTON 

27    PATERNOSTER    ROW 
MCM 


"  The  call  to  he  reUgiotis  is  iwt  stronger  than  the  call  to  see  of 
what  sort  our  religion  is.'' — Dean  Church. 


TO   THE 

REV.   ALEXANDER    WHYTE,   D.D. 

IN    GRATEFUL   ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

OF    MANY    KINDNESSES 

WHICH    CAN    NEITHER    BE    REPAID    NOR    FORGOTTEN 

THIS   LITTLE   VOLUME    IS   DEDICATED 

WITH    THE   AFFECTIONATE    ESTEEM   OF 

THE  AUTHOR  AND   HIS   PEOPLE 

Edinburgh. 


CONTENTS 


I 

PAGE 

The  Love  we  Feel  and  the  Love  we  Trust   .    .    3 

II 

"Old  News,  and  Good  News,  and  New  News"    .   19 

III 

The  Difference  Christ  has  made        .        •        •        •       35 

IV 

The    Sermon    on    the    ?^Iount    and    the    Christian 

Gospel 53 

V 

Christ's  Appeal  to  the  Intellect        ....       69 

VI 

Difficulties  about  Religion 85 

VII 

What  some  Men  make  of  Religion      .        .        .        .103 


viii  A  Yozmg  Mans  Religion 


VIII 

PAGE 

The  Morality  of  the  Religious 119 

IX 

The  Witness  of  Heredity  to  Faith     ....     137 

X 

Heredity  and  Responsibility 153 

XI 

Heredity  and  Grace 169 

XII 

The  Gibraltar  of  Protestantism  ....     183 

XIII 
Concerning  "Getting  on  "     .        .        .'      .        .        .     199 

XIV 

Lost  Sorrows 215 

XV 

Is  there  Anything  in  God  to  Fear  ?  .         .         .        .     229 

XVI 

The  Unpardonable  Sin 241 


\ 


THE  LOVE  WE  FEEL  AND  THE  LOVE 
WE  TRUST 


"  Forsyth  said  a  good  thing  the  other  day — he  thought  that  '  the 
time  had  cof?ie  to  get  back  the  word  Grace  i^ito  our  preaching '  ;  word 
and  thing  have  too  much  disappeared.^' 

Extract  from  Letter  by  Dr.  Dale. 

"  *  Grace ' — what  is  that  ?  The  7vord  means  first — love  in  exer- 
cise to  those  who  are  below  the  lover,  or  who  deserve  something  else, 
stooping  love  that  condescends^  and  patient  love  that  forgives.'" 

Alexander  Maclaren. 

*'  Let  me  no  more  my  comfort  draw 
From  my  frail  hold  of  Thee, 
In  this  alone  rejoice  with  azve 
Thy  mighty  grasp  of  me. " 

J.  C.  Shairp. 


I 


THE  LOVE  WE  FEEL  AND  THE 
LOVE  WE  TRUST 

''  ZJEREIN  is  love;'  says  the  Apostle  John,  "  not 
that  we  loved  God^  but  that  He  loved  us" 
"  Not  that  we  loved  God  " — that  is  the  love  we 
feel,  our  love  ;  "  but  that  He  loved  us  " — that  is 
the  love  we  trust.  His  love.  And  we  are  saved, 
not  by  the  love  we  feel,  but  by  the  love  we  trust. 
That  distinction  and  some  of  the  truths  that  are 
involved  in  it  are  the  subject  of  this  chapter. 

I 

And  the  distinction  is  greater  and  of  greater 
importance  than  may  at  first  sight  appear  to  us. 
Let  me  try,  by  one  or  two  simple  questions,  to 
set  it  in  a  clearer  light.  What  is  the  starting- 
point  in  religion,  the  centre  around  which  all  else 
must  revolve — God  or  man  ?  What  is  religion 
— a  discovery  or  a  revelation,  a  human  achieve- 
ment or  a   Divine   bestowment  ?      What  is   that 


A  Young  Mans  Religio7i 


wherein  our  salvation  stands — is  it  in  what  we 
are  to  God,  or  in  what  He  is  to  us  ?  Is  it  we 
who  have  chosen  Him,  or  is  it  He  who  has  chosen 
us  ?  What  is  it  that  saves — the  love  we  feel,  or 
the  love  we  trust  ? 

The  distinction,  I  hope,  grows  clear  to  us  ;  for 
it  is  both  very  real  and  of  the  first  importance. 
Christianity,  according  to  some,  is  (if  I  may 
borrow  a  phrase  of  Mr.  John  Morley's)  our  "  last 
great  religious  synthesis  "  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  the 
last  and  most  successful  attempt  at  piecing  to- 
gether the  scattered  thoughts  of  men  concerning 
themselves  and  their  relation  to  the  great  Unseen. 
The  Christian  doctrine  of  God,  e.g. — on  this 
explanation  of  Christianity — is  the  magnificent 
discovery  of  that  sublime  spiritual  genius,  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  the  Columbus  of  the  spiritual  world, 
who  has  by  searching  found  out  God.  In  that 
same  Jesus,  too,  meet  all  our  highest  ideals  of 
duty  and  of  conduct.  Morality  has  come  forth 
from  His  hands  a  new  creation  ;  and  now,  as  He 
was  upon  the  earth,  so  are  we  to  be  :  strong  as 
He  was  strong,  tender  as  He  was  tender,  holy  in 
all  manner  of  life  even  as  He  was  holy.  There 
is  the  far-shining  goal  towards  which  we  are  to 
make  our  way.  Day  by  day  we  are  to  gird  up 
the  loins  of  our  soul,  until  at  last  the  long  ascent 
is  made,  and  we  stand  with  Him  on  those  same 
victorious  heights,  crowned  with  glory  and  with 
honour. 

This,  I  say,  is  one  not  uncommon  conception 


The  Love  we  Feel  and  the  Love  we  Trust  5 

of  the  essential  meaning  of  the  Christian  nnessage. 
And,  obviously,  there  are  in  it  large  elements  of 
truth.  Here  and  there  it  might  be  expounded 
and  defended  in  the  language  of  Scripture  itself 
Nevertheless,  speaking  broadly,  such  a  concep- 
tion of  religion  is  clean  contrary  to  the  scriptural 
idea.  It  is  a  revival  of  the  blunder  of  the  old 
astronomy  which  made  the  earth  to  be  the  centre 
of  all  things.  For,  throughout,  the  emphasis  is 
on  man — man's  thoughts,  man's  duties  ;  man  is 
to  find  out  the  best  that  he  can,  and  then  be  true 
to  it  as  far  as  he  can.  But  this  is,  emphatically, 
not  the  Biblical  conception  of  religion  ;  nay,  in- 
deed, it  is  separated  from  it  by  a  whole  diameter. 
The  Bible  is  not  the  history  of  a  patient  search 
and  a  partial  discovery  ;  it  is  the  record  of  a 
revelation.  It  makes  known  to  us,  not  the 
thoughts  of  man  concerning  God,  but  the  word 
of  God  concerning  Himself  And,  therefore,  the 
first  call  of  the  Gospel  is  not  to  bid  us  gather 
anew  the  scattered  energies  of  the  soul,  and  "  do 
our  best "  ;  rather  is  it  to  bid  us  humble  ourselves 
and  receive  God's  best.  It  is  impossible  to  fling 
upwards  from  below  the  chain  by  which  man 
shall  climb  from  earth  to  heaven  ;  "  it  must  be 
let  down  upon  us,  link  by  link,  from  on  high  ;  the 
Father  must  come  forth  to  meet  His  child,  Christ 
must  become  man,  the  Holy  Spirit  must  be  given, 
the  New  Jerusalem  must  descend  from  God  out 
of  heaven,  every  good  and  perfect  gift  must  be 
received  from  above."      It  is   not  in  our  strivings, 


A  Voting  Maris  Religion 


nor  our  love,  nor  our  faith,  nor  in  anything  that 
is  ours,  but  in  God,  that  we  must  find  the  starting- 
point  of  all  true  religion.  *'  Salvation  is  of  the 
Lord  "  ;  it  is  from  without,  not  from  within.  We 
are  saved,  not  by  the  love  we  feel,  but  by  the  love 
we  trust. 

II 

To  this  truth  all  Scripture  bears  its  witness. 
In  his  Gospel  John  speaks  of  himself  as  "the 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved."  He  might  have 
written  "  the  disciple  who  loved  Jesus  "  ;  the 
words  would  have  been  true.  But  that  which 
brought  strength  and  gladness  into  John's  life  was 
not  that  his  love,  poor  and  feeble  at  its  best,  went 
out  to  Christ,  but  that  Christ's  love,  in  all  its 
wealth  and  fulness,  poured  itself  out  upon  him. 
"  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that 
He  loved  us."  "  AVe  love,"  he  says  ;  why  ? 
"  Because  He  first  loved  us."  The  river  flows  at 
his  feet,  and  everything  liveth  whithersoever  it 
cometh,  but  John  does  not  forget  that  it  has  its 
source  in  the  everlasting  hills  of  God. 

"  Now  that  ye  have  come  to  know  God,"  Paul 
writes  to  the  Galatians,  "  or,  rather,"  he  adds, 
checking  and  correcting  himself,  "  to  be  known 
of  God."  The  self-correction  is  full  of  signifi- 
cance ;  it  reveals  the  habitual  drift  of  the  Apostle's 
thought.  "  Paul  remembers  that  the  change  has 
its  ultimate  source,  not  in  the  mind  of  man,  as 
though  by  his  intelligence  he  had  found  out   God, 


The  Love  we  Feel  and  the  Love  we  Tidiest  7 

but  in  the  mind  of  God,  who  in  mercy  has  looked 
upon  man." 

A  still  more  decisive  passage  is  the  same 
Apostle's  well-known  declaration  to  the  Corinth- 
ians :  "  I  make  known  unto  you,  brethren,  the 
^e^ospel  which  I  preached  unto  you  ...  for  1 
delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  " — what  ?  "  that  ye 
should  seek  God  and  imitate  Jesus  ?  that  ye 
should  believe  in  the  Beatitudes,  and  live  accord- 
ing to  them  "  ?  Nay,  not  so  is  it  written  :  "  I 
delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  how  that  Christ 
died  for  our  sins."  The  whole  paragraph  is 
concerned,  not  with  the  duty  of  man,  but  with 
the  doings  of  God.  Human  duty  has  its  place 
in  the  Divine  message,  but  that  place  is  not  the 
first  place.  The  Gospel,  as  Paul  understood  it,  it 
cannot  be  too  often  affirmed,  was  not  good  advice, 
but  good  news  ;  it  made  known  primarily,  not 
something  to  do,  but  something  done  ;  and  before 
the  Apostle  will  call  upon  one  man  to  love  and 
to  work  for  God,  he  bids  the  whole  world  behold 
the  Divine  love,  toiling,  suffering,  triumphing 
for  it. 

Nor  is  this  a  conception  of  the  Gospel  peculiarly 
"  Pauline."  The  section  of  Paul's  Epistle  from 
which  I  have  just  quoted  closes  with  these  words  : 
"  Whether  then  it  be  I  or  they " — Paul,  Peter, 
ApoUos,  it  matters  not  which  one  of  us  you  take, 
our  witness  is  the  same — "  so  we  preach,  and  so 
ye  believed."  Turn  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
and   mark   how  the   first   preachers  of  the   Gospel 


A  Yotcng  Mans  Religion 


interpreted  the  great  commission  which  their 
risen  Lord  had  given  them.  They  did  not  ex- 
pound the  precepts  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
they  had  Httle  to  say  concerning  the  example  of 
Jesus ;  with  one  voice  they  made  known  that 
great  power  of  God  whose  supreme  manifestation 
was  the  Death  and  the  Resurrection  of  Christ, 
whereof  they  were  witnesses.  What  God  had 
wrought  for  man — this  was  their  Gospel  ;  what 
man  must  do  for  God — that  would  come  after- 
wards and  in  due  course.  "  Nothing,"  says  Mr. 
R.  H.  Hutton,  "  can  be  plainer  than  that  the 
Gospel,  as  it  was  originally  preached,  was  a 
message  which  put  new  power  and  life  into  man, 
by  enabling  him  to  believe  in  a  new  power  and 
life  outside  him."  And  there  is  no  "  Gospel  "  that 
can  ever  be  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation 
which  does  not  proclaim  with  the  Apostle,  "  first 
of  all,"  how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins. 

"  Salvation  is  of  the  Lord  "  :  witnesses  to  the 
truth  multiply  on  every  hand.  Take,  e.g.  our 
two  great  Christian  Sacraments,  Baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Wherein  do  these  differ  from 
all  other  religious  observances  and  forms  of 
worship  of  which,  from  time  to  time,  the  Christian 
Church  may  make  use  ?  Is  it  not  in  this,  that, 
while  these  things  are  the  expression  of  our  faith 
in  God,  of  our  love  for  Him,  the  Sacraments,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  (as  Dr.  Dale  has  said)  the 
expression  of  Divine  thoughts,  the  visible  symbols 
of  Divine  acts  ?      When   in   Baptism  we  receive  a 


The  Love  we  Feel  and  the  Love  we  Trust  9 

little  child,  that  which  we  declare  is  not  the  faith 
or  feeling  of  the  parents,  but  the  grace  and 
authority  of  Christ.  When  at  the  Lord's  Table 
we  "  eat  this  bread  and  drink  this  cup,"  we  "  do 
show  the  Lord's  death "  ;  we  proclaim,  not  our 
love,  but  His,  not  the  love  we  feel,  but  the  love 
we  trust. 

Or,  consider  the  great  festivals  of  the  Christian 
year :  Christmas,  Good  Friday,  Easter,  Whitsun- 
tide— ^what  is  their  true  significance?  When 
Christmas  comes,  and  all  men's  hearts  are  glad, 
and  the  Christmas  bells,  as  they  "  answer  each 
other  in  the  mist,"  seem  to  say, 

"  Peace  and  good-will,  good-will  and  peace. 
Peace  and  good-will  to  all  mankind," 

it  is  easy  to  suppose  that  this  is  the  season's  first 
and  deepest  lesson  to  us.  Yet  we  have  only  to 
think  again  for  one  moment  to  realize  how  far 
beyond  this  is  the  message  of  these  great  days  of 
the  Christian  year.  For  do  they  not  all  call  to 
mind  and  proclaim,  "  first  of  all,"  not  duties 
of  man,  but  doings  of  God  ? — how  that  for  us 
men  and  for  our  salvation  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God,  came  down  from  heaven,  was  born  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  suffered  under  Pontius  Pilate,  was 
crucified,  dead,  and  buried  ;  the  third  day  He 
rose  again  from  the  dead,  and  ascended  into 
heaven,  and  hath  sent  forth  His  Holy  Spirit  to 
lead  men  into  all  truth,  and  to  create  them  anew 
in  His  own  likeness  and  image. 


lo  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

In  the  light  of  facts  hke  these,  it  seems  very 
strange  to  find  Matthew  Arnold  urging  against 
certain  forms  of  Evangelical  belief  the  very  em- 
phasis with  which  they  have  proclaimed  the  truth 
which  I  am  endeavouring  to  make  plain.  Of 
Calvinistic  Puritanism  he  complains  ;  "  The  pass- 
iveness  of  man,  the  activity  of  God,  are  the  great 
features  of  this  scheme ;  there  is  very  little  of 
what  man  does,  very  much  of  what  God  does." 
Arminian  Methodism  he  thinks  equally  at  fault, 
because  it  also  gives  "  first  and  almost  sole  place 
to  what  God  does,  with  disregard  to  what  man 
does."  But,  as  Dr.  Dale  has  pointed  out,  Matthew 
Arnold's  real  quarrel  was  neither  with  Calvinistic 
Puritanism  nor  Arminian  Methodism,  but  with 
St.  Paul  and  the  New  Testament.  And  this  that 
he  urges  against  our  faith,  rightly  understood, — I 
say  rightly  understood,  for  it  has  often  been 
grievously  perverted  and  misunderstood, — is  its 
crowning  glory,  that  which  has  made  it  to  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand  glad  tidings  of  great 
joy.  This  is  the  fact  that  lends  distinction  to  the 
Christian  Gospel,  and  gives  it  its  place  apart 
among  all  the  other  great  world-religions  :  they 
insist  on  what  man  must  do  in  order  to  win  God  ; 
it  proclaims  what  God  has  already  done  in  order 
to  win  man. 

Students  of  the  science  of  Comparative  Religion 
sometimes  draw  up  for  us  a  kind  of  table  of  parallel 
columns.  In  the  first  column  they  enter  certain 
of  the  recorded   sayings  of  Jesus,  and  then,  in  the 


The  Love  we  Feel  and  tJie  Love  we  Trust  1 1 

succeeding  columns,  these  are  paired   off  with   a 
saying   of  Confucius,   or   Buddha,   or   some   other 
great  teacher  of  antiquity.      And  sometimes,  when 
Christian    men    and    women    see    these    parallel 
columns,  their  hearts  begin  to  fail  them  for  fear  ; 
they   wonder   if,    after   all,    there    is    anything   so 
special   and  distinctive  about  their  faith  as  they 
had  imagined,  and   if  the  day  may  not  sometime 
come  when    He  whom    they  have   called   "  Lord 
and    Master"    will    not   have   to   take    His   place 
among   the    world's    greatest    and    best — at    their 
head,  but  still  one  of  them.      Yet,  surely,  we  do 
not  need   to   fear.      There  is  an  entry  in  that  first 
column    which    Peter    made    long   centuries    ago : 
"  His  own   self  bore  our  sins   in   His  body  upon 
the  tree."      Now,  run  your  eye  along  the  parallel 
columns.      See  !   they  are   all   blank,  every  one   of 
them  !      This  is   my  Lord's  glory,  which   no   man 
can  take  from    Him,  and   no   man   can   share  with 
Him.      Others  can  tell  me  of  a  love  which  I  owe, 
of  the   devotion,   and   gifts,   and   service   which    I 
must  bring  and  lay  at  the  feet  of  my  Deity  ;   He 
alone  reveals  to  me  a  love  which  I  can  trust. 


Ill 

"  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but 
that  He  loved  us."  What  then  shall  we  do  ? 
What  but  this  that  Jude  bids  us,  "Keep  your- 
selves in  the  love  of  God "  ?  God's  love  is  all 
about  us,  like   His  sunshine  ;  it   is  for  us  to  keep 


1 2  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

ourselves  in  it,  to  live  and  to  rejoice  in  it.  We 
have  not  to  create  it,  nor  to  call  it  forth  ;  it  has 
not  to  be  won  by  earnest  importunity,  nor  to  be 
merited  by  high  and  strenuous  endeavour  ;  it  is 
there,  always  there,  his  who  will  receive  it ;  we 
have  but  to  keep  ourselves  in  it,  and  it  will  wrap 
all  our  days  in  its  glad,  bright  radiance. 

When  shall  we  learn,  in  our  religious  life,  to 
keep  the  Divine  order?  Christ's  first  word  to  us 
is  never  "  Child  of  Mine,  lovest  thou  Me  ? "  but 
always,  ''  Child  of  Mine,  behold  My  love  to  thee." 
And  our  first  duty  is  not  to  tease,  and  vex,  and 
worry  ourselves  with  questions  about  our  love  to 
Him,  whether  we  love  Him  or  not,  whether  our 
love  is  of  the  right  kind  or  not,  but  to  set  our- 
selves in  the  full  blaze  of  His  love,  that,  like  as 
the  flowers  answer  to  the  call  of  the  sunshine,  so 
our  love  may  spring  up  in  glad  response  to  His. 
Let  the  lives  of  the  saints  teach  us.  "  Shall  we 
seek,"  writes  Cromwell  in  one  of  his  letters,  "  for 
the  root  of  our  comforts  within  us  ?  What  God 
hath  done,  what  He  is  to  us  in  Christ,  is  the  root 
of  our  comfort :  in  this  is  stability  ;  in  us  is  weak- 
ness." "  I  think,"  he  murmured,  as  he  lay  on  his 
deathbed,  "  I  think  I  am  the  poorest  wretch  that 
lives  ;  but  I  love  God  ;  or,  rather  " — like  St.  Paul, 
checking  and  correcting  himself — "  am  beloved  of 
God." 

There  was  published  in  this  country  a  few 
years  ago  the  life  -  story  of  a  German  lady,  the 
Countess  Adelina   Schimmelmann.      It  is  a  book 


The  Love  we  Feel  and  the  Love  we  T^^ust  1 3 

of  singular  interest,  and  nothing  in  it  is  so  interest- 
ing as  the  story  of  the  writer's  conversion.  After 
weeks  of  darkness  and  uncertainty,  she  seemed, 
she  says,  to  hear  God  saying  to  her  :  "  My  child, 
thy  salvation  does  not  depend  upon  thy  love  to 
Me,  but  upon  My  love  to  thee,  just  as  thou  art." 
"  Then,"  she  says,  "  broke  in  upon  my  heart  a 
sun  of  joy,  in  the  beams  of  which  I  still  rejoice, 
and  whose  light  will  shine  upon  me  eternally. 
Now  my  cold  heart  began  to  burn,  not  on  account 
of  my  love  to  Christ,  but  because  of  His  love  to 
me."     Was  not  Horatius  Bonar  right  ? — 

"  Not  what  these  hands  have  done 
Can  save  this  guilty  soul ; 
Not  what  this  toiling  flesh  has  borne 
Can  make  my  spirit  whole. 

"  Thy  love  to  me,  O  God, 

Not  mine,  O  Lord,  to  Thee, 
Can  rid  me  of  this  dark  unrest, 
And  set  my  spirit  free." 

"  It  is  not  in  our  own  wounds,  but  in  the 
wounds  of  Jesus  that  we  must  put  our  hands." 
The  love  we  feel — who  dare  build  on  that? 
Alas  !  it  is  shifting  as  the  shifting  sand,  changing 
with  the  changing  years.  One  day  its  flame  is 
clear  and  steadfast,  another  it  is  dim  and  flicker- 
ing. But  the  love  we  trust — thank  God,  that 
abideth  ever,  and  knows  no  change.  It  is  a 
lamp  whose  light  is  never  low,  a  rock  no  tumults 
can  ever  shake.  He  that  buildeth  there  shall 
never  be  confounded. 


1 4  A  Voting  Mails  Religion 

"  Herein  is  love  ; "  and  it  is  yours — oh,  if 
along  the  thin  wire  of  my  poor  words  the  Divine 
message  could  flash  into  some  heart ! — it  is  yours 
who  doubt  it  most.  You  have  read  "  Ian  Mac- 
laren's "  touching  story,  "  The  Transformation 
of  Lachlan  Campbell."  You  remember  how 
Lachlan's  daughter,  Flora,  having  no  mother  to 
guide  her,  went  astray,  and  wandered  into  the 
far  country.  Then  one  day,  in  the  little  kirk- 
session,  Lachlan  rose  and  himself  moved  that 
Flora's  name  be  struck  off  from  the  roll.  But 
one  who  herself  had  learned  many  things  in  the 
school  of  suffering,  Marget  Howe,  went  to  find 
out  Lachlan  in  his  darkened  home.  And  when 
she  came  to  the  cottage,  she  found  Flora's  plants 
laid  out  in  the  sun,  and  her  father  watering 
them  on  his  knees,  and  one  that  was  ready  to 
die  he  had  sheltered  with  his  plaid  from  the  wind. 
Then  Lachlan  took  her  into  the  cottage,  and 
showed  her  what  he  had  done,  how  with  his  own 
hand  he  had  crossed  out  Flora's  name  from  the 
family  Bible.  But  Marget  could  see  that  the 
hand  that  held  the  pen  had  wavered,  and  the  ink 
had  run  as  if  it  had  been  mingled  with  tears. 
Then  a  letter  was  written  bidding  Flora  come 
back,  for  her  father  loved  her,  and  mourned  for 
her,  and  would  not  be  comforted.  And  that  very 
night  Lachlan  took  some  of  his  stern  Puritan 
books,  and  made  of  them  a  stand  near  the 
window,  and  set  the  lamp  upon  it,  and  every 
night    its    light    fell    upon    the    steep    path    that 


The  Love  we  Feel  and  the  Love  zue  Trust    1 5 

climbed  to  Flora's  home.  And  one  day  she 
came,  and  again  the  old  Bible  was  brought  out, 
while  Lachlan,  with  bowed  head,  told  her  what 
he  had  done.  "  Give  me  the  pen,"  said  Flora  ; 
and  when  Lachlan  lifted  his  head  this  was  what 
he  read  : — 

Flora  Campbell, 

Missed  April,  1873. 

Found  September,  1873. 

"  Her  father  fell  on  her  neck  and  kissed  her." 

Yes  ;  but  the  love  of  God  is  broader  than  the 
measures  of  man's  mind.  No  father  ever  missed 
and  waited  tor  his  child  as  God  misses  and  waits 
for  us.  He,  too,  has  His  book,  where  all  His 
children's  names  are  written  ;  and  the  prodigal's 
is  there  with  the  rest.  And  whensoever  he  will 
come  home  again,  under  his  name  the  Father 
will  write,  "  This  My  son  was  dead  and  is  alive 
again  ;   he  was  lost  and  is  found." 

Who  would  not  trust  a  love  like  this  ?  And 
this  is  the  love  which  in  the  Gospel  is  proclaimed 
unto  us. 


"OLD  NEWS,  AND  GOOD  NEWS, 
AND  NEW  NEWS" 


"  In  the  cross  of  Christy  excess  in  viati  is  met  by  excess  in  God j 
excess  of  evil  is  mastered  by  excess  of  love. " — Eourdaloue. 

"  THE  PITMAN  TO  HIS  WIFE'' 

^^  Tve  got  a  word  like  a  sivord  in  viy  heart,  that  has  piejred  it 
through  and  through. 

When  a  message  comes  to  a  man  fom  Heaven  he  needn't  ask  if 
it's  true  ; 

There's  none  on  earth  could  frame  such  a  tale,  for  as  strange  as 
the  tale  may  be, 

Jems,  my  Saviour,  that  Thou  should' st  die  for  love  of  a  man  like 
vie  ! 

It  was  for  me  that  Jesus  died  1  for  me,  and  a  world  of  men 
Just  as  sinful  and  just  as  slow  to  give  back  His  love  again  ; 

He  didn't  wait  till  I  came  to  Him,  but  He  loved  me  at  my 
zuorst  ; 

He  needn't   ever  have  died  for  me  if  I  could  have  loved  Him 
first." — Dora  Green  well. 


II 

"OLD  NEWS,  AND  GOOD  NEWS,  AND 
NEW  NEWS" 

IN  one  of  Tennyson's  letters,  written  from  a 
little  village  on  the  Lincolnshire  coast,  there 
is  a  delightful  scrap  of  autobiography.  The  poet 
was  housed,  he  tells  us,  with  "  two  perfectly  honest 
Methodists."  When  he  arrived  he  asked  his  hostess 
after  news.  "  Why,  Mr.  Tennyson,"  said  she, 
"  there's  only  one  piece  of  news  that  I  know,  that 
Christ  died  for  all  men."  "  Well,"  answered  Tenny- 
son, "  and  that  is  old  news,  and  good  news,  and 
new  news."  It  is  of  this  news,  old  yet  new,  and 
always  good,  that  I  want  to  speak  now.  Three 
great  words  of  Scripture  shall  tell  us  what  the 
news  is — 

^'' Christ  died  for  our  sms^ — i  COR.  xv.  3. 

".  .  .  A?id  7iot  for  ours  oiily^  but  also  for  the  whole 
world.'' — I  John  ii.  2. 

"  The  Son  of  God  who  loved  ??ie^  and  gave  Himself  up 
for  7neP — Gal.  ii.  20. 


20  A  Yotmg  Ma7is  Religion 


"  Christ  died  for  our  sins!'  This  is  the  primary, 
reeal   truth  of  the   Christian   revelation  ;   and  the 

o 

simplest,  most  obvious  statement  of  the  fact  is  also 
the  truest.  Christ  died  that  we  might  be  forgiven  ; 
He  died  that  the  consequences  of  our  sins  might 
not  be  visited  upon  us. 

Christ  did  not  die  in  order  to  induce  God  to 
love  us.  It  was,  as  the  Scriptures  everywhere 
assert,  because  God  loved  us  that  Christ  died. 
His  love  was  not  the  consequence,  but  the  origin 
of  Christ's  death.  Yet  Christ  did  not  die  simply 
that  He  might  reveal  the  love  of  God,  and  that 
so,  by  the  revelation  of  Divine  love,  He  might 
win  us  from  our  sins.  The  death  of  Christ  was  a 
revelation,  wonderful  and  pathetic,  of  the  love  of 
God  ;  but  this  was  not,  in  the  Apostle's  thought 
at  least,  its  immediate  object.  If  St.  Paul  had 
meant  that,  he  could  have  said  it ;  but  he  did  not 
say  it ;  what  he  said  was  :  "  Christ  died  for  our 
sins!'  To  use  Dr.  Dale's  distinction,  it  is  the  re- 
velation that  comes  through  the  redemption  rather 
than  the  redemption  through  the  revelation. 

There  is  in  the  little  Swiss  town  of  Stanz  a 
lovely  sculptured  group,  which  tells  in  white  marble 
the  story  of  the  brave  Arnold  von  Winkelried. 
When,  in  one  of  their  conflicts  with  the  Austrians, 
the  Swiss  soldiers  strove  in  vain  to  break  through 
the  terrible  Austrian  phalanx,  Winkelried,  -it  is 
said,  rushed  on  to  the  foe,  and  laying  hold  of  as 


*'  Old  News,  Good  News,  New  News  "    2 1 

many  spears  as  his  arms  could  reach  bore  them 
to  the  ground  with  the  whole  weight  of  his  body. 
Then  through  the  gap  in  the  ranks,  and  over  his 
dead  body,  his  comrades  pressed  to  victory.  And 
on  Calvary — it  is  no  idle  figure  that  I  use — Christ 
gathered  our  sins  like  a  sheaf  of  spears  into  His 
own  heart ;  they  killed  Him,  but  His  death  saved 
us.  "  He  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions  "  ; 
"  His  own  self  bare  our  sins  in  His  body  upon 
the  tree  "  ;  '*  He  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the 
law,  having  become  a  curse  for  us."  It  is  a  mystery 
that  no  wisdom  can  fathom  and  no  words  can  tell  ; 
but  *'  as  a  leaf  is  threaded  through  and  through 
with  its  fibres,"  so  is  the  New  Testament  threaded 
with  this  truth.  It  was  the  sin  of  man  that  made 
necessary  the  death  of  Christ,  and  it  is  the  death 
of  Christ  that  now  makes  possible  the  forgiveness 
of  man. 

I  am  aware  that  even  so  simple  a  statement  of 
the  fact  as  this  is  sufficient  to  raise  serious  question- 
ings in  the  minds  of  many.  But  to  discuss,  even 
to  name,  the  objections  which  have  from  time  to 
time  been  urged  against  the  Atonement  is  not 
now  possible,  and  I  must  be  content  with  offering 
one  or  two  general  suggestions. 

And  it  is  specially  worthy  of  note  that  very 
many  of  the  objections  to  which  I  refer  are  really 
objections  against  theories,  explanations  of  the 
Atonement,  rather  than  against  the  Atonement 
itself  This  is  not  to  say  that  our  theories  are 
foolish  and  superfluous  ;  indeed,  they  are  inevitable 


2  2  A  Young-  Mans  Religion 


— we  are  driven  to  them  by  a  kind  of  intellectual 
necessity.  Men  who  think  are  compelled  to  seek 
some  expression,  however  inadequate,  of  the  con- 
tents of  their  religious  faith,  which  is  only  another 
way  of  saying  they  must  have  a  theology.  Never- 
theless, the  New  Testament  itself,  clear  and  em- 
phatic as  it  is  in  its  proclamation  of  the  great  fact, 
has  little  to  offer  by  way  of  explanation  of  the 
fact ;  so  that,  so  long  as  we  confine  ourselves  to  its 
words,  many  of  the  current  objections  never  come 
into  view  at  all.  Surely,  therefore,  it  ought  to  be 
possible  for  us,  however  intolerable  or  unthinkable 
this  or  that  suggested  explanation  may  be,  to  hold 
fast  to  the  fact  itself. 

Several  years  ago  astronomers  were  greatly  per- 
plexed by  an  apparent  irregularity  in  the  planet 
Uranus.  The  effects  of  all  known  attractions 
upon  the  planet  were  carefully  calculated,  and  its 
place  in  the  heavens  thus  predicted.  But  through 
the  operation  of  some  unknown  cause  the  event 
always  falsified  the  prediction,  for  the  planet  was 
sometimes  before,  sometimes  behind  its  expected 
place.  Ultimately  the  disturbing  influence  was 
discovered  in  the  existence  of  the  planet  Neptune 
and  the  mystery  was  solved.  Now,  without  doubt, 
during  the  time  that  preceded  the  discovery  of  the 
true  cause,  multitudes  of  explanations  were  forth- 
coming ;  and  we  can  imagine  an  astronomer  of 
that  day  testing  each  one  in  its  turn,  finding  them 
all  wanting,  and  yet  still  refusing  to  doubt  for  a 
moment  the  results  of  his  own  observations  in  the 


"  Old  News,  Good  Nezus,  New  News''    23 

disturbance  of  the  planet's  motion  ;  sceptical  of 
the  theories,  he  would  still  hold  to  the  facts.  Is 
no  such  attitude  possible  for  us  in  regard  to  the 
Atonement  ?  May  we  not  accept  the  forgiveness 
offered  to  us  through  the  death  of  Christ,  absolutely 
distrustful  though  we  are  of  every  explanation  of 
the  mysterious  Divine  processes  that  have  made 
the  offer  possible  ? 

But,  it  may  be  asked — for  the  question  will 
make  itself  heard — if  God  loved  us,  why  could 
He  not  forgive  us  without  Christ's  death  ?  And 
how  has  Christ's  death  operated  so  as  to  make 
possible  what  before  was  impossible  ?  These  are 
questions  to  which  probably  a  final  answer  can 
never  be  given  ;  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the 
New  Testament  itself  provides  us  with  the  materials 
necessary  for  an  answer.  But,  let  us  remember, 
our  ignorance  is  no  fit  judge  of  the  ways  of  God. 
If  apart  from  the  death  of  Christ  our  forgiveness 
had  been  possible,  then  had  not  Christ  died.  But 
since  Christ  has  died,  therefore  we  judge  that 
necessity — incomprehensible  as  it  may  be  to  us — 
was  laid  upon  Him. 

"  And  was  there,  then,  no  other  way 

For  God  to  take  ?      I  cannot  say  ; 
I  only  bless  Him  day  by  day 

Who  saved  me  through  my  Saviour." 

Or,  as  Faber  puts  it  : 

"  I  cannot  understand  the  woe, 

Which  Thou  wast  pleased  to  bear 
O  Lamb  of  God  !      I  only  know 
That  all  my  hopes  are  there." 


24  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

Therefore,  I  repeat,  let  no  difficulties  concern- 
ing the  mediation  of  Christ  cheat  us  of  the  forgive- 
ness which  He  has  won  for  us.  God  is  satisfied, 
forgiveness  is  proclaimed  ;  in  comparison  with  that 
all  else  is  but  secondary.  What  should  we  think 
of  a  man  who  refused  to  enter  upon  his  inheritance 
because  the  title-deed,  which  did  beyond  question 
make  it  his,  was  yet  so  worded  that  he  in  his 
ignorance  was  unable  to  understand  it  ?  And 
when  to  us  sinners  there  is  offered  in  the  Gospel 
the  forgiveness  of  our  sins  through  the  death  of 
Christ  ;  when,  moreover,  sixty  generations  of  saints 
affirm  with  one  voice  that  what  God  promises  He 
does  in  reality  bestow,  shall  we  suffer  this  great 
inheritance  of  grace  to  pass  from  us  because  we 
cannot  comprehend  all  that  is  written  in  the  charter 
that  secures  it  to  us  ?  It  is  not  mine  to  interpret 
the  deed  ;  it  bears  the  sign  manual  of  the  Cross  ; 
God  Himself  declares  it  valid.  I  want  no  more  ; 
my  title  is  clear.  Let  faith  hasten  to  make  her 
great  claim,  and  God  by  Himself  hath  sworn  that 
it  shall  be  established. 

II 

Christ  died  for  our  sins,  ^^  and  not  for  otirs  only, 
biU  also  for  the  whole  world!' — And  now  it  is  I 
who  am  in  a  difficulty.  Every  one  understands 
what  this  means,  every  one  believes  it,  and  yet  with 
what  languid  interest  do  we  hear  it !  That  God 
has  no  favourites,  that  all  is  for  all,  that  you  and 
I  and  all  men 


''  Old  News,  Good  News,  New  News  "    25 

"  Move 
Under  a  canopy  of  love, 
As  broad  as  the  blue  sky  above  " — 

this  is  one  of  the  commonplaces  of  faith  which  we 
take  for  granted,  as  we  take  for  granted  to-morrow's 
sunrise  or  the  recurring  seasons. 

One  explanation  of  the  revolt  against  Calvinism, 
one  reason  why  that  ancient  creed  has  lost  the 
hold  that  once  it  had  on  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
men,  is  to  be  found,  I  suppose,  in  this :  that  it 
limited,  or  seemed  to  limit,  the  grace  of  God. 
Some  of  our  Nonconformist  forefathers  used  to 
sing 

"  We  are  a  garden  walled  around. 
Chosen  and  made  peculiar  ground  ; 
A  little  spot  enclosed  by  grace 
Out  of  the  world's  wide  wilderness." 

We    should    almost    as    soon    think    of   wearing 

o 

Elizabethan  ruffs  as  of  singing  a  hymn  like  that, 
so  completely  has  the  fashion  of  our  religious 
thought  changed.  And,  indeed,  the  whole  ten- 
dency of  modern  thought,  not  only  in  religion, 
but  also  in  social  and  political  life,  has  served  to 
throw  into  sharper  relief  the  great  universal  words 
of  the  Christian  Gospel.  They  fit  the  mood  of 
the  age,  we  accept  them  without  argument  like 
the  axioms  of  Euclid,  but  they  no  longer  fill  us 
with  wondering  awe  and  exulting  praise. 

Yet  it  was  not  always  so.  Around  this  very 
truth,  which  to-day  we  assume  with  such  careless 
ease,  there  raged  the  first  and  one  of  the  sharpest 


26  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

of  the  controversies  of  the  Early  Church.  Was 
the  Gospel  for  all  men  ?  Did  Christ  die  for 
Gentiles  as  well  as  for  Jews  ?  Was  His  word  a 
message  for  the  multitudes,  to  be  proclaimed  on 
the  housetops,  in  the  hearing  of  all,  or  a  secret  to 
be  whispered  in  the  ears  of  the  initiated  few? 
And  even  yet,  as  we  read  Paul's  letters,  we  can 
feel  again  the  thrill  of  rapturous  gladness  with 
which  the  Apostle,  himself  a  Jew,  declared  that 
in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  neither  Greek  nor  Jew, 
that  the  middle  wall  of  partition  is  for  ever  broken 
down,  that  "  the  Gentiles  are  fellow  -  heirs  and 
fellow- members  of  the  body,  and  fellow-partakers 
of  the  promise  in  Christ  Jesus  through  the  Gospel," 
that  all  is  for  all.  The  old  Judaizing  error  is  dead 
and  buried,  but  the  mighty  truth  with  which  the 
Apostle  smote  and  slew  it  is  ours  as  it  was  his. 
If  it  could  but  live  for  us  as  it  lived  for  him  ! 
Christ  died  for  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only, 
but  also  for  the  whole  world. 

The  old  Judaizing  error,  I  say,  is  dead  ;  but 
"  take  heed  lest  there  shall  be  any  one  that  maketh 
spoil  of  you  through  his  philosophy  and  vain  de- 
ceit, after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the  rudiments 
of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ."  And  men  may 
"  spoil  "  us  in  many  ways.  When,  e.g.  they  speak 
as  though  the  living  waters  were  stored  up  in  some 
great  reservoir,  and  as  if  before  the  thirsty  soul 
can  drink  and  live,  it  must  be  connected  by  an 
elaborate  system  of  man-made  pipes,  and  that  even 
then  the  supply  is  liable  suddenly  to  be  cut  off — 


Old  News,  Good  News,  Neiu  Neivs''    27 


when,  I  mean,  they  tell  us  that  divine  grace  is 
ministered,  and  ministered  only,  by  the  Church,  or 
the  Priest,  or  the  Sacraments — verily,  they  know 
not  the  mind  of  God,  they  know  not  what  manner 
of  spirit  He  is  of.  Christ  gave  Himself  for  all ; 
His  grace  is  free  for  all.  The  water  of  life  has 
not  to  be  "  laid  on  "  by  any  little  arrangements  of 
ours ;  the  river  rolls  by  every  man's  door,  and  he 
that  will  may  drink  and  live.  "  Ho  !  every  one 
that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters." 

And  indeed,  when  we  consider  what  the  Gospel 
is,  we  begin  to  understand  that  to  be  itself  it  must 
be  universal.  If  religion  were  primarily  an  appeal 
to  the  intellect,  if  it  ministered  to  wants  that  are 
local  or  individual  merely,  then  might  it  be  for 
one  and  not  for  another.  But  since  its  business 
is  with  sin,  and  all  have  sinned,  since  it  offers  to 
no  man  what  every  other  man  does  not  equally 
need,  therefore  must  it  be  for  every  man.  "  Who- 
soever"— God  Himself  has  traced  the  boundless 
circle,  and  not  one  life  lies  without  its  mighty  rim. 


Ill 

Christ  died  for  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only, 
but  also  for  the  whole  world.  And  now  let  us 
sharpen  the  blunt  generality  to  this  fine  and  pene- 
trating point  :  "  He  loved  7ne,''  says  St.  Paul,  "  and 
gave  Himself  up  for  me!'  The  law  of  divine 
grace  is  not  only  all  for  all,  but  all  for  each. 

Conversely  with  what  was  stated  above,  this  is 


28  A  Yo2ing  Mans  Religion 

a  truth  that,  perhaps,  it  was  easier  to  beheve  once 
than  to-day.  In  bygone  days,  when  man  thought 
of  the  earth  as  "  the  centr^  of  a  universe  wherein 
all  things  were  ordained  for  his  sole  behoof;  the 
sun  to  give  him  light  and  warmth,  the  stars  in  their 
courses  to  preside  over  his  strangely  chequered 
destinies,  the  winds  to  blow,  the  floods  to  rise,  or 
the  fiend  of  pestilence  to  stalk  abroad  over  the 
land — all  for  the  blessing,  or  the  warning,  or  the 
chiding,  of  the  chief  among  God's  creatures,  Man": 
when  men  thought  thus,  I  say,  it  must  have  been 
an  easier  thing  for  devout  souls  to  look  up  and 
say,  "He  loved  me,  and  gave  Himself  up  for  mel' 
than  it  can  be  now.  For  the  old  astronomy  has 
gone  ;  instead  of  being  the  centre  of  all  things, 
our  earth  is  but  a  "  third-rate  planet  of  a  third-rate 
sun,"  and  in  the  vast  readjustment  of  ideas  that 
the  change  has  brought,  there  are  many  that  say 
unto  us,  "  How  shall  He  care  though  we  perish  ?  " 
Not  only  so,  but  as  Mark  Rutherford  says,  our 
little  intellects  are  impotent  "to  conceive  a  destiny 
which  shall  take  care  of  every  atom  of  life  on  the 
globe  ;  we  are  compelled  to  think  that  in  such  vast 
crowds  of  people  as  we  behold,  individuals  must 
elude  the  eye  of  the  Maker,  and  be  swept  into 
forgetfulness." 

What  shall  we  say  to  these  things?  To  begin 
with,  let  us  remember,  as  Mark  Rutherford  himself 
goes  on  to  say,  the  truth  of  truths  is  that  the  mind 
of  the  universe  is  not  our  mind,  or  at  any  rate 
controlled  by  our  limitations.      And,  above  all,  let 


"  Old  News,  Good  News,  New  News  "    29 

us  fall  back  on  the  word  of  Christ,  and  the  experi- 
ence of  the  saints.  "  In  Christ  were  all  thnigs 
created,  in  the  heavens,  and  upon  the  earth,  things 
visible,  and  things  invisible,  whether  thi^nes  or 
dominions,  or  principalities,  or  powers  ;  all  thn  gs 
have  been  created  through  Him,  and  unto  Hmi, 
and  He  is  before  all  things,  and  in  Him  all  thmgs 
hold  together";  and  He  says,  not  a  sparrow  falle.h 
to  the  ground  without  your  Father  ;  the  very  hairs 
of  your  head  are  all  numbered.  Or  listen  to  the 
music  of  a  psalm  like  this  : — 

"  The  Lord  doth  build  up  Jerusalem  ; 
He  gathereth  together  the  outcasts  ot  Israel. 
He  healeth  the  broken  in  heart, 
And  bindeth  up  their  wounds. 
He  telleth  the  number  of  the  stars, 
He  giveth  them  all  their  names. 
Great  is  our  Lord,  and  mighty  in  power, 
His  understanding  is  infinite." 

Mark  the  order  of  the  verses ;  there  is  a 
meaning  in  it:  "He  telleth  the  number  of  the 
stars"-  yes,  but  the  divinest  thmg  in  Gods 
universe  is  not  the  power  f  ^^^^^  Creator ;  it 
is  the  stooping,  pitying  love^  of  the  Father :  He 
healeth  the  broken  in  heart." 

«  'Twas  great  to  speak  a  world  from  nought, 
'Twas  greater  to  redeem." 

Dora  Greenwell   is  very  bold,  but  she  is  also 
very  scriptural  when  she  sings  : — 


30  A  Young  Man  s  Religion 

"  And  had  there  been  in  all  this  wide 
Wide  world  no  other  soul  beside 
But  only  mine,  then  He  had  died 
That  He  might  be  its  Saviour." 

He  loved  me  and  gave  Himself  up  for  me. 


IV 

Christ  died  for  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only, 
but  also  for  the  whole  world.  He  loved  me,  and 
gave  Himself  up  for  me  ;  but,  "  if  we  sin  wilfully 
after  that  we  have  received  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  tJiere  remaineth  no  more  a  sacrifice  for 
sins,  but  a  certain  fearful  expectation  of  Judg- 
ment, and  a  fierceitess  of  fire  zvhicJi  shall  devour 
the  adversaries!'  I  do  not  care  to  comment  on 
words  like  these  ;  I  had  rather  they  should  stand 
in  all  their  dread  and  simple  sternness.  But  be 
it  known  unto  us,  the  Cross  is  love's  uttermost. 
He  who  can  resist  that  can  resist  God's  loudest 
appeal.  "  Last  of  all.  He  sent  His  Son  "  ;  and 
when  Christ  died  the  resources  of  heaven  were 
exhausted,  the  divine  quiver  was  empty,  love 
itself  had  no  more  than  it  could  do  :  "  there 
remaineth  no  more  a  sacrifice  for  sins,  but  "  instead 
"a  certain  fearful  expectation  of  judgment." 

I  stood  one  day  by  Hartley  Coleridge's  grave 
in  Grasmere  Churchyard,  and  read  on  the  simple 
headstone  the  touching  prayer  of  our  English 
Litany  :  "  By  Thy  Cross  and  Passion,  good  Lord 
deliver  us."      And   as   I   thought  of  the   sad   and 


Old  News,  Good  News,  New  News  "     31 


blighted  life  of  him  who  slept  below,  it  seemed 
like  the  piteous  cry  of  a  hunted  soul,  seeking  its 
last  refuge  from  the  hell-hounds  of  sin  :  "  By  Thy 
Cross  and  Passion,  good  Lord  deliver  me."  What 
other  prayer,  what  other  plea,  have  we  ? 

"  This  all  my  hope  and  all  my  plea, 
For  me  the  Saviour  died. 

All  ?      Yes  ;  but,  thank  God,  enough  ! 


THE  DIFFERENCE   CHRIST    HAS   MADE 


"  What  was  the  change,  what  was  the  new  force ,  or  element,  or 
aspect  of  the  world,  or  assemblage  of  ideas,  which  proved  able  to  make 
of  society  what  Roman  loftiness  of  heart,  Roman  sagacity,  Roman 
patience,  Roman  strength  had  failed  to  make  of  it  ?  What  power 
was  it  which  took  up  the  discredited  and  hopeless  work,  and,  inftising 
new  etiergies  and  new  hopes  itito  men,  has  made  the  long  history  of 
tlte  Western  nations  different  in  kind  from  any  other  period  of  the 
history  of  mankind ;  different  in  this,  that  though  its  march  has  been 
often  very  dark  and  very  weary,  often  arrested  and  often  retarded, 
chequered  with  terrible  reverses,  arid  stained  by  the  most  flagrant 
crimes,  it  has  never  been,  definitely  and  for  good,  beaten  back ;  the 
movement,  as  we  can  see  when  we  review  it,  has  been  on  the  whole  a 
uniform  one,  and  has  ever  been  tending  onwards ;  it  has  never 
surretidered,  and  has  never  had  reason  to  surrender,  the  hope  of 
improvement,  even  though  itnprovement  might  be  remote  and  difficult. 
.  .  .  It  is  a  matter  of  historical  fact ,  that  in  the  closing  days  of  Rome 
an  entirely  new  set  of  moj'al  ideas  and  moral  pujposes,  of  deep  sig- 
nificance, fruit  fid  in  consequences,  and  of  a  strength  and  intensity 
unknown  before,  were  tnakijtg  their  way  in  society,  and  establishing 
themselves  in  it.  It  is  to  the  awakening  of  this  new  morality,  which 
has  7iever  perished  out  of  the  hearts  of  men  from  that  day  to  this,  that 
the  efforts  and  the  successes  of  modern  civilisation  are  mainly  due  ;  it 
is  on  the  permanence  of  these  moral  convictions  that  it  rests.  .  .  . 
And  it  is  as  clear  and  certain  a  fact  of  history  that  the  coming  in  of 
Christianity  was  accompanied  by  new  i7ioral  elements  in  society, 
inextinguishable,  widely  operative,  never  destroyed,  though  apparently 
at  times  crushed  and  paralysed,  as  it  is  certain  that  Christiati  nations 
have  jftade  on  the  whole  more  progj'ess  in  the  wise  ordering  of  human 
life  than  was  made  in  the  most  advanced  civilisation  of  the  times 
before  Christianity."  Dean  Church. 


Ill 

THE  DIFFERENCE  CHRIST    HAS    MADE 

"  \/^B  have  heard  that  it  was  said  to  them  of  old 

time  .  .   .  but  I  say  unto  you "      Christ 

was  standing  on  the  border-line  between  the  Old 
Dispensation  and  the  New.  "  Ye  know,"  He 
seems  to  say,  "  what  has  been  ;  hearken,  and  I 
will  tell  you  what  shall  be."  He  points  the 
contrast  between  a  past  that  had  been  theirs,  and 
the  future  that  was  to  be,  in  a  special  sense.  His. 
The  contrast  is  one  which  was  often  present  to 
our  Lord's  mind.  It  runs  through  a  large  part 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  it  meets  us 
repeatedly  elsewhere  in  His  recorded  sayings. 
"  Moses,"  He  said,  speaking  on  the  question  of 
divorce,  "  for  your  hardness  of  heart  suffered  you 

to   put   away   your    wives,   but ; "    then    He 

went  on  to  lay  down  His  own  and  higher  law. 
"Among  them  that  are  born  of  women,"  He 
declared  at  another  time,  ''there  hath  not  arisen 
a  greater  than  John  the  Baptist :  yet  he  that  is 
but   little   in    the   kingdom   of  heaven    is   greater 


36  A  Young  Mans  Religio7i 

than  he."  Christ  knew  Himself  to  be  the 
Founder  of  a  new  order,  the  Beginner  of  a  new 
time. 

Those  who  first  heard  Him  may  well  have 
listened  with  amazement  at  words  so  bold  and 
yet  so  calmly  spoken.  We  who  read  them,  with 
nineteen  centuries  as  their  commentary,  know  how 
true  they  are.  For  us  the  one  great  dividing-line 
in  the  world's  history  is  the  coming  of  Christ. 
The  whole  story  of  the  life  of  man  on  the  earth 
is  summed  up  for  us  under  the  familiar  formula, 
"  B.C.,"  "  A.D." — the  years  before  Christ,  the  years 
since  Christ.  Nor  is  this  merely  an  act  of 
reverence  on  the  part  of  them  that  call  Christ 
Jesus  Lord  ;  it  is  rather  the  instinctive  expression 
of  the  world's  deep-rooted  consciousness  that  with 
Christ,  as  never  before  nor  since,  a  new  beginning 
was  made,  a  new  era  opened. 

This,  then,  is  our  subject — the  difference  Christ 
has  made,  the  contrast  between  life  as  He  found 
it  and  life  as  He  has  since  been  making  it.  And 
though  I  can  touch  but  the  fringe  of  a  practically 
illimitable  subject,  we  may  at  least  be  able  to 
"  sample  "  a  few  of  the  gains  by  which  the  world 
has  been  enriched  through  the  coming  of  Christ. 


Consider,  in  the  first  place,  the  difference  which 
Christ  has  made  in  our  thoughts  of  God.  And 
in  saying  this,  I  am  not  thinking  of  any  new  and 


The  Difference  Christ  has  Made        2)1 

unanswerable  demonstration  which  Christ  has 
given  us  of  the  existence  of  God.  For  arguments 
on  that  matter  we  must  go  not  to  the  New 
Testament,  but  to  the  text -books  of  theology. 
This  is  not  said  to  depreciate  the  value  of  such 
arguments,  nor  to  challenge  their  validity,  but 
only  to  indicate  the  difference  of  Christ's  method. 
He  approached  the  subject  by  a  different  path. 
He  took  it  up  at  a  point  nearer  to  the  actual 
facts  of  life  and  experience.  Assuming,  not 
proving,  that  God  is, — assuming,  too,  that  those  to 
whom  He  spoke  believed  Him  to  be, — Christ 
sought  to  enable  them  to  think  true  and  worthy 
thoughts  of  God,  to  think  of  Him  as  He  really  is. 
In  a  word,  Christ  demonstrated  not  the  existence 
but  the  nature  and  character  of  God.  And  the 
greatness  of  the  service  which  thus  He  did  to 
man,  none  of  us  can  measure.  We  say  sometimes 
that  "  ideas  rule  the  world,"  but  there  is  none  that 
is  so  mightily  regnant  as  our  idea  of  God.  The 
thought  we  make  of  God  is  the  thought  that 
makes  us  ;  it  is  fundamental,  regulative  of  all 
our  life. 

What,  then,  is  the  new  thought  of  God  which 
we  owe  to  Christ  ?  Now  it  will  be  seen  how 
much  larger  my  subject  is  than  my  treatment  of 
it  can  possibly  be.  Two  or  three  sentences  must 
contain  all  I  can  attempt  by  way  of  answer.  If 
we  have  emptied  our  thought  of  God  of  all  that 
debased  and  belittled  Him,  if  we  have  felled  the 
monstrous  growths  of  superstition  that  darkened 


38  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

and  poisoned  our  life,  if  God  is  no  longer  to  us 
an  angry  Deity  needing  to  be  appeased  with 
blood,  if  He  is  no  longer  a  far-off  Deity,  cold 
and  distant  as  His  stars,  who  will  not  hear  us 
though  we  cry  long  unto  Him — it  is  to  Christ 
that  we  owe  it.  And  if,  on  the  other  hand, 
we  have  any  thoughts  of  God  that  are  pure  and 
tender  and  loving  and  true,  if  we  can  believe 
that  He  cares  for  all  men  and  that  His  love 
gathers  up  all,  even  the  poor  and  the  weak  and 
the  outcast  of  every  nation  and  kindred  and 
tongue,  within  its  mighty  arms,  if  our  weariness 
can  lean  on  Him  and  our  loneliness  find  refuge 
in  Him,  if  we  and  all  men  when  we  pray  may 
look  up  and  say,  "  Father,"  again  it  is  to  Christ 
that  we  owe  it.  Read  what  religion  means  in 
lands  to-day  where  the  light  of  His  Gospel  has 
not  come  ;  read  the  story  of  the  nations  without 
and  around  Israel  of  old  ;  nay,  read  the  sacred 
books — the  Old  Testament — of  Israel  itself,  and 
then  turn  again  to  the  words  of  Jesus  and  read 
once  more  the  Parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  the 
prayer  that  Jesus  taught  His  disciples  to  pray, 
the  tender  intimacies  of  the  upper  room  ;  turn, 
above  all,  to  that  which  told  what  words  could 
never  tell — His  death  for  men — and  you  will 
begin  to  understand  something  of  the  measureless 
change  which  Christ  has  wrought  in  the  thoughts 
of  men  concerning  God.  Indeed,  I  believe  it  has 
come  to  this,  that  for  us  the  choice  lies  between 
God    in  Christ   and    no  God    at   all.     Either  we 


The  Difference  Christ  has  Made       39 

must  think  Christ's  thoughts  of  God  or  we  shall 
refuse  to  think  of  Him  altogether.  It  may  be 
true  that  dogmatic  atheism  is  to-day  universally 
discredited  if  not  actually  dead,  but  practical 
atheism — under  whatever  name  it  may  disguise 
itself — and  the  Christian  faith  remain  our  only 
alternatives.  He  who  spoke  unto  the  fathers  by 
the  prophets  hath  in  these  last  days  spoken  unto 
us  in  His  Son,  and  if  we  turn  from  Him  we  put 
out  the  only  light  which  can  lead  our  wandering 
feet  back  to  God. 

II 

The  difference  which  Christ  has  made  may  be 
illustrated  in  another  way.  One  of  the  greatest 
and  most  fruitful  ideas  buried  deep  in  the  heart 
of  the  world  to-day  is  our  reverence  for  human 
life,  our  sense  of  the  worth,  the  dignity,  the 
divinity  of  man.  Whence  came  it?  It  did  not 
exist  in  the  ancient  world  ;  as  a  matter  of  his- 
torical fact  it  did  not.  It  is  just  here,  one  historian 
tells  us,  we  find  the  key  to  the  difference  between 
ancient  and  modern  civilization  :  modern  civiliza- 
tion aims  at  the  common  weal  of  the  people ; 
ancient  civilization  thought  only  of  the  interests 
of  the  favoured  few.  The  population  of  Rome 
during  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era  was 
1,610,000,  and,  of  that  number,  900,000  were 
slaves.  Think  of  it  —  three  out  of  five  of  the 
men  and  women  whom  Paul  passed  on  the  streets 
of  the   Imperial    City  slaves,   with   less   rights  in 


40  A  Young  Majts  Religion 

the  eyes  of  the  law  than  your  dog  !  For  the  law 
to-day  will  not  suffer  you  to  treat  your  dumb 
animal  as  any  Roman  slave -owner  might  treat 
his  slave  with  impunity.  One  famous  thinker  of 
antiquity  speaks  of  tools,  Hving  and  lifeless  ;  and 
by  a  living  tool  he  meant,  of  course,  a  slave. 

The  evidence  may  be  stated  in  a  form  that  to 
some  will  appeal  more  powerfully  even  than  facts 
like  these.  Here  and  there  in  our  own  Scriptures 
we  have  very  interesting  side-lights  thrown  upon 
the  conditions  of  life  before  Christ  came,  especi- 
ally as  they  affected  women  and  children.  In 
the  Book  of  Exodus,  e.g.  we  read  of  a  census  of 
the  children  of  Israel  taken  by  Moses.  What  a 
census  in  our  land  to-day  means  we  all  know ; 
but  in  Israel  only  the  men  over  twenty  were 
numbered  —  the  women  and  children  did  not 
count.  Similarly,  in  our  Lord's  parable  of  the 
Unmerciful  Servant,  we  read  of  a  certain  king 
who,  when  one  of  the  servants  was  unable  to  pay 
what  he  owed,  "  commanded  him  to  be  sold,  aitd 
his  zvife  and  children  and  all  that  he  had,  and  pay- 
ment to  be  made."  The  picture  is  true  to  the 
life  of  the  time :  the  wife  and  children  were 
marketable  goods  which  might  be  disposed  of 
like  anything  else  which  their  owner  possessed. 
One  of  the  slight  changes  which  the  Revisers  of 
the  New  Testament  have  introduced  is  full  of 
significance  when  read  in  this  same  connection. 
In  the  Authorised  Version  we  are  told  that  when 
the   disciples  returned  to  Jesus   and    found    Him 


The  Difference  Christ  has  Made       41 

in  conversation  with  the  woman  of  Samaria,  they 
marvelled  that  He  talked  "  with  the  woman "  ; 
but  the  true  rendering  is  "with  a  woman"  ;  what 
astonished  the  disciples  was  not  merely  that  their 
Master  should  talk  with  this  woman,  but  that  He 
should  talk  with  a  woman  at  all. 

Now  you  know  how  we  have  changed  all  this  ; 
say,  rather,  how  Christ  has  changed  all  this,  for 
that  is  the  simple,  historical  fact.  "  It  is  the 
Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes." 
He  it  was  who  first  taught  us  that  God  is  no 
respecter  of  persons,  that  all  are  His  children  and 
all  are  dear  to  Him.  When,  in  the  days  of  His 
flesh.  He  lived  among  men,  no  one  was  more  to 
Him  because  of  his  riches  nor  less  because  of  his 
poverty.  Rank  and  social  distinctions  were  less 
than  nothing  in  His  eyes  ;  it  was  man  as  man  for 
whom  He  cared.  And  above  all,  in  taking  upon 
Him  our  human  nature  He  showed  what  it  might 
become,  what  God  meant  it  to  be.  The  Incar- 
nation is  the  revelation  not  only  of  the  love  and 
condescension  of  God,  but  of  the  greatness  and 
glory  of  man  which  sin  had  obscured  but  could 
not  destroy.  It  implies,  as  Dr.  Dale  has  said,  a 
certain  kinship  between  God  and  man. 

It  has  taken  the  world  long  centuries  to  learn 
the  significance  of  all  this.  Even  yet  it  does  not 
fully  comprehend  it.  But  in  the  degree  in  which 
the  truth  has  been  realized  man  has  sought  the 
deliverance  and  redemption  of  his  fellow  -  men. 
From  it,  as  the  flower  from  its  seed,  there  sprang 


42  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

in  the  fulness  of  time  the  movement  which  freed 
the  slave,  the  mighty  tree  of  modern  philanthropy 
whose  branches  cover  the  whole  earth,  and  whose 
leaves  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 

If  it  be  said  that  there  are  many  to-day  who 
hold  as  firmly  as  we  to  "the  freedom  and  divinity 
of  man,"  and  yet  acknowledge  no  allegiance  to 
Christ,  the  answer  is  simple  :  the  statement  is  true, 
but  it  is  nothing  to  the  point. 

"  Most  can  raise  the  flowers  now, 
For  all  have  got  the  seed  ;  " 

but  it  was  Christ  who  gave  us  the  seed.  All  that 
is  best  in  our  modern  civilization  goes  back  to 
Him  as  its  source  and  fount.  He  is  the  founder 
of  the  new  social  order,  the  maker  and  builder  of 
that  fair  City  of  God,  which  slowly  through  the  ages 
is  rising  out  of  the  wreck  and  chaos  of  man's  sin. 

Ill 

And  as  Christ  has  changed  our  conception  of 
man,  so  also  has  He  changed  our  ideals  of  duty. 
Several  points  of  contrast  between  Christian  and 
pre-Christian  morality  He  Himself  has  indicated 
in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount ;  but  setting  aside 
details  which  cannot  now  be  considered,  and 
speaking  of  Christ's  teaching  as  a  whole,  it  may 
be  said  that  He  did  special  honour  to  a  new  type 
of  virtues.  The  ancient  world  laid  its  emphasis 
on  what  may  be  called  the  masculine  virtues — 
strength,  courage,  endurance,  and   so   forth.      Nor 


The  Difference  Christ  has  Made        43 

does  the  New  Testament  speak  one  word  in  dis- 
paragement of  these  ;  yet  a  man  might  possess 
them  all  and  still  not  be  the  man  whom  Christ 
pronounced  supremely  blessed.  Blessed,  He  said, 
are  the  poor  in  spirit,  blessed  are  the  meek,  blessed 
are  the  merciful,  blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart, 
blessed  are  the  peacemakers,  blessed  are  they  that 
have  been  persecuted  for  righteousness' sake ;  and  for 
the  first  time,  as  has  been  well  said,  "  a  halo  rests 
on  gentleness,  patience,  kindness,  and  sanctity." 

The  difference  cannot  be  better  illustrated, 
perhaps,  than  by  the  Christian  law  of  forgiveness. 
If  the  world  has  come  to  believe  that  it  is  a  right 
and  worthy  thing  for  a  man  to  forgive  his  enemies, 
and  if  in  any  degree  it  is  willing  to  prove  its  faith 
by  its  works,  it  is  certainly  to  Christ  that  we  owe 
it.  Nor  is  this  merely  the  pious  opinion  of  a 
preacher  anxious  to  secure  as  much  credit  for 
Christianity  as  he  can.  It  is  a  fact  as  capable  of 
historical  demonstration  as  the  indebtedness  of 
law  to  Rome  or  of  art  to  Greece.  "In  the  law 
of  forgiveness,  and  still  more  in  the  law  of  un- 
limited forgiveness,"  says  the  author  of  Ecce  Hoino, 
"  a  startling  shock  was  given  to  the  prevailing 
beliefs  and  notions  of  mankind.  And  by  this 
law  an  ineffaceable  and  palpable  division  has  been 
made  between  ancient  and  modern  morality.  .  .  . 
Undoubtedly  friends  fell  out  and  were  reconciled 
in  antiquity  as  amongst  ourselves.  But  where 
the  only  relation  between  the  two  parties  was 
that  of  injurer  and   injured,  and  the  only  claim  of 


44  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

the  offender  to  forgiveness  was  that  he  was  a 
human  being,  there  forgiveness  seems  not  only  not  to 
have  been  practised,  but  not  to  have  been  enjoined 
nor  approved.  People  not  only  did  not  forgive 
their  enemies,  but  did  not  wish  to  do  so,  nor  think 
better  of  themselves  for  having  done  so.  That 
man  considered  himself  fortunate  who,  on  his 
deathbed,  could  say,  in  reviewing  his  past  life, 
that  no  one  had  done  more  good  to  his  friends,  or 
more  mischief  to  his  enemies."  ^ 

Look  at  these  two  strangely  contrasted  pictures 
— one  from  the  Old  Testament,  the  other  from 
the  New,  and  say  what  has  wrought  the  change. 
"  And  the  Spirit  of  God  came  upon  Zachariah,  the 
son  of  Jehoiada  the  priest,  and  he  stood  above 
the  people,  and  said  unto  them.  Thus  saith  God, 
Why  transgress  ye  the  commandments  of  the 
Lord  that  ye  cannot  prosper  ?  .  .  .  And  they 
conspired  against  him,  and  stoned  him  with  stones 
at  the  commandment  of  the  king  in  the  court  of 
the  house  of  the  Lord.  .  .  .  And  when  he  died 
he   said.  The  Lord   look   upon   it  and   require  it." 

^  The  following  note  on  Tennyson's  beautiful  poem  "CEnone  " 
will  be  read  with  interest  in  this  connection  :  "  Critics  have  called 
attention  to  the  absence  of  the  genuine  antique  spirit  from  this 
poem.  And  it  is,  no  doubt,  observable  that  Tennyson's  representa- 
tion of  Qinone's  character  contains  little  or  no  suggestion  of  that 
bitter  resentment  and  implacable  vengeance  which  a  poet  of 
ancient  Greece  would  have  thought  it  correct,  from  both  a  moral 
and  an  artistic  standpoint,  to  instil  into  her  words.  In  making 
CEnone  tell  her  tale,  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger,  Tennyson  has 
appealed  to  the  more  modern,  more  Christian,  idea,  '  To  err  is 
human,  to  forgive  divine. '  " 


The  Difference  Christ  has  Made        45 

"  But  Stephen,  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
looked  up  stedfastly  into  heaven  and  saw  the 
glory  of  God  ;  and  Jesus  standing  at  the  right 
hand  of  God,  and  said.  Behold,  I  see  the  heavens 
opened,  and  the  Son  of  Man  standing  on  the 
right  hand  of  God.  .  .  .  And  they  cast  him  out 
of  the  city  and  stoned  him.  .  .  .  And  he  kneeled 
down  and  cried  out  with  a  loud  voice.  Lord,  lay 
not  this  sin  to  their  charge." 

Zechariah  and  Stephen  were  both  good  men, 
men  of  God  ;  yet  while  one  with  his  dying 
breath  cries  aloud  to  the  God  of  heaven  for 
vengeance  upon  his  foes,  the  other  prays  that  his 
may  be  forgiven.  What  has  wrought  the  change  ? 
There  is  but  one  answer  :  between  Zechariah  and 
Stephen  there  came  One  who  said,  "  Love  your 
enemies,  and  pray  for  them  that  persecute  you," 
and  of  whom  it  is  written,  "  And  when  they  came 
unto  the  place  which  is  called  Calvary,  there  they 
crucified  Him,  and  the  malefactors,  one  on  the 
right  hand,  and  the  other  on  the  left.  And 
Jesus  said,  '  Father,  forgive  them  ;  for  they  know 
not  what  they  do.' "  This  is  the  difference  that 
Christ  has  made.  With  His  nailed  hands  He 
built  the  bridge  across  the  gulf  that  divides  them 
that  cry  for  vengeance  from  them  that  pray  for 
pardpn. 

IV 

Lastly,  mark  the  difference  which  Christ  has 
made  in  our  thoughts  of  death.     The  comparisons 


46  A  Voting  Mans  Religion 

which  men  sometimes  make  between  Jesus  and 
other  great  teachers  never  seem  so  wholly  futile 
and  barren  as  they  do  here.  Comparison,  indeed, 
is  impossible,  for  no  other  has  ever  attempted 
what  Christ  has  actually  done  for  us  in  presence 
of  the  dread  mystery  of  the  grave.  Here  are  two 
or  three  simple  facts,  such  as  any  one  may  gather, 
and  whose  significance  no  one  can  miss  : — 

We  read  the  familiar  words  of  the  great  and 
noble  Greek  as  he  turned  from  his  judges  to 
death,  we  remember  with  what  thoughts  of  the 
future  Hezekiah  was  brought  down  to  the  gates 
of  the  grave — how  shadowy  and  silent  seemed  to 
them  the  great  land  beyond  ;  and  then  we  listen 
again  to  the  quiet  confidence,  the  ringing  exulta- 
tion of  the  apostle,  "  To  me  to  die  is  gain  ;  "  "  O 
grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  O  death,  where  is 
thy  sting  ?  " 

Recent  excavations  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Athens  have  brought  to  light  a  large  number  of 
inscribed  and  sculptured  gravestones  which  reveal 
to  us  in  very  striking  fashion  "  the  Greek  mind  in 
presence  of  death."  ^  They  show  how  to  the 
popular  mind  throughout  Greece  the  future  state 
was  but  "  a  shadowy  realm,  a  poor  washed-out 
copy  of  the  brilliant  life  on  earth."  "She  who 
lies  here,"  runs  one  inscription,  "  coveted  not,  while 
alive,  garments  or  gold,  but  desired  discretion  and 
virtue.       And   now,   Dionysia,   in    place  of  youth 

^  See  a  very  interesting  paper  bearing  this  title  in   The  Con- 
temporary Review,  December  1877,  by  Percy  Gardner. 


TJie  Difference  C/mst  has  Made       47 

and  bloom,  the  Fates  have  awarded  thee  this 
sepulchre."  There  was  no  denial  of  a  future,  but 
it  was  rarely  thought  of;  it  was  "a  cold  shadow 
to  be  kept  out  of  sunny  life  as  much  as  might  be." 
And  thus  these  all  died  in  fear,  not  having  received 
the  promises,  and  with  at  most  a  faint,  tremulous 
hope  that  it  might  not  be  wholly  ill  with  them, 
that  out  of  the  night  some  good  perchance  might 
fall  to  them.  But  the  moment  we  come  upon 
the  Christian  epitaphs  at  Athens  "  a  sudden  and 
marvellous  change,"  we  are  told,  '*  takes  place "  : 
"  To  the  Christian  the  place  of  interment  is  no 
longer  a  tomb,  but  a  sleeping-place." 

The  same  contrast  meets  us  again  in  the  cata- 
combs of  Rome.  There  on  the  one  side,  is  blank 
despair  or  impious  defiance  ;  here,  on  the  other, 
hope  and  joy  and  peace.  There  you  may  read 
"Vale!  vale!  in  aeternum  vale!" — "Farewell, 
farewell,  for  ever  farewell  ! " — here  the  sweet  old 
words  "In  Christo,"  "In  pace,"  "In  spe "— "  in 
Christ,"  "  in  peace,"  "  in  hope." 

And  what  a  witness  do  our  own  churchyards 
bear  to  the  difference  that  Christ  has  made  !  On 
costly  marble  statues  and  on  simple  wooden  crosses, 
amid  the  quiet  of  lonely  hills  and  the  hum  of 
busy  cities,  in  our  own  language  wherein  we  were 
born  and  in  the  language  of  strangers — every- 
where we  may  read  the  common  speech  of  a 
deathless  hope  :  "  I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the 
Life.  He  that  believeth  on  Me,  though  he  die, 
yet  shall  he  live." 


48  A  Young  Mails  Religion 

And  this  hope  is  theirs  alone  who  are  sure  of 
Christ.  There  was  a  time  when  men  who  doubted 
or  denied  the  Christian  revelation,  yet  built  their 
hopes  for  the  future  on  what  they  called  the 
"  natural  immortality  of  the  soul."  But  when  this 
doctrine  is  itself  assailed  by  orthodox  Christian 
divines/  it  is  obvious  how  precarious  are  all  our 
reasonings  that  do  not  rest  on  Christ.  Nor  can 
He  bear  this  weight  except  He  be  the  Divine  Son 
of  God.  Creeds  that  can  find  no  room  for  the 
Divinity  of  Christ  grow  every  day  more  timorous 
concerning  the  future.  Men  may  reverence  Him 
as  the  Man  of  Nazareth,  but  if  they  do  not  adore 
Him  as  the  Lord  of  Glory,  they  falter  in  the 
presence  of  death.  "  Man's  hope,"  said  Robert 
Elsmere,  as  he  stood  by  the  grave  of  his  friend 
Grey,  and  listened  to  the  triumphant  language  of 
the  Burial  Service,  "  has  grown  humbler  than  this. 
It  keeps  now  a  more  modest  mien  in  the  presence 
of  the  Eternal  Mystery."  I  read  the  following 
touching  notice  in  the  columns  of  a  literary  journal 
some  years  ago  : — 

"  This  is  to  tell  their  loved  and  loving  friends  that 

,the  dear,  dear  wife  of died  at  their  home 

on  the  afternoon  of  Monday 


In  her  shy,  tiny  body  there  lived  a  great  and 
sweet  soul.  Think  of  her  sometimes,  so  that  she 
who  loved  life  so  well  may,  at  least,  live  on  in 
that  best  immortality  of  unforgetting  love." 

^  I  refer  (without  endorsing)  to  the  recent  declarations  of  Dr. 
Agar  Beet  and  Canon  Gore.  See  the  former's  Last  Things,  and 
the  latter's  Epistle  to  the  Romans^  vol.  i. 


The  Difference  Christ  has  Made        49 


The  writer  was  a  well-known  man  of  letters  ;  he 
takes  a  kindly  interest  in  religion,  but  its  deepest 
truths  are  still  hidden  from  him  ;  and  when  he 
laid  his  young  wife  in  the  grave  this  was  the  best 
he  dare  hope  for — an  "  immortality  of  unforgetting 
love."  But  ours  is  a  better  hope,  sure  and  stead- 
fast, given  unto  us  by  Him  whom  John  heard 
saying,  "  Fear  not  ;  I  am  the  first  and  the  last, 
and  the  Living  One  ;  and  I  was  dead,  and,  behold, 
I  am  alive  for  evermore,  and  I  have  the  keys  of 
death  and  of  Hades.  ...  In  my  Father's  house 
are  many  mansions  ;  if  it  zvere  not  so  I  ivouid  have 
told  your  We  are  sure  of  the  future  because  we 
are  sure  of  Christ. 

"  The  old  things  are  passed  away  ;  behold  they 
are  become  new." 

This  is  the  difference  that  Christ  has  made. 


THE  SERMON   ON   THE   MOUNT  AND 
THE  CHRISTIAN  GOSPEL. 


' '  To  the  Apostles  the  tJisistoice  on  the  Sen/ion  on  the  Mount  as 
the  sian  of  Christianity  would  have  appeared  a  relapse  into  hopeless 
paganism." — W.  Robertson  Nicoll. 


IV 

THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT    AND 
THE  CHRISTIAN  GOSPEL 

I  HAD  been  conducting  Divine  worship  in  a 
London  church.  At  the  close  of  the  service, 
a  minister,  who  chanced  to  be  in  the  congrega- 
tion, said  to  me,  with  a  touch  of  that  irreverence  of 
which  we  ministers  are  sometimes  guilty,  "  Hang 
theology  !  Let  us  get  to  life."  As  I  had 
preached  what  is  sometimes  known  as  a  "practical" 
sermon,  I  suppose  the  remark  was  intended  as  a 
compliment.  It  was  a  warm  week-day  afternoon, 
and  perhaps  my  friend  was  thankful  that  he  had 
been  able  to  listen  without  being  compelled  unduly 
to  think.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I  did  not  altogether 
appreciate  the  compliment,  and  certainly  neither 
then  nor  at  any  other  time  had  I  any  thoughts  of 
"hanging"  theology.  Nevertheless,  if  I  mistake 
not,  the  feeling  which  lay  behind  the  chance  remark 
of  my  hearer  that  afternoon  is  one  that  is  very 
widespread.      We    may    not   express   ourselves    in 


54  ^  Young  Mans  Religion 

terms  quite  so  blunt,  at  least  not  in  Scotland, 
where  the  traditional  respect  for  things  theological 
is  still  very  strong  ;  yet  there  are  multitudes  of 
intelligent  Christian  men  and  women  in  all  our 
churches  to-day  who  can  only  listen  with  a  Gallio- 
like  impatience  to  an  exposition  or  discussion  of 
the  great  doctrines  of  the  Christian  creed.  "Never 
mind  doctrine,"  they  say  ;  "  give  us  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  Why  should  we  vex  our  brains 
about  miracles  and  the  supernatural,  the  great 
mysteries  of  the  Incarnation  or  the  Atonement  or 
the  Resurrection  ?  What  doth  the  Lord  our  God 
require  of  us  but  that  we  should  believe  in  the 
Beatitudes  and  do  unto  others  as  we  would  that 
others  should  do  unto  us  ?  " 

This  is  a  cry  which  one  hears  incessantly  in 
our  current  religious  literature.  "  Morality,"  says 
one  writer,  "  was  the  essence  of  Christ's  system, 
theology  was  an  after -thought."  A  very  dis- 
tinguished Biblical  student,  whose  death  a  few 
years  ago  seemed  an  irreparable  loss  to  sacred 
scholarship,  began  his  last  work  with  a  pointed 
contrast  between  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and 
the  Nicene  Creed.  "  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount," 
he  says,  "  is  the  promulgation  of  a  new  law  of 
conduct  .  .  .  The  Nicene  Creed  is  a  statement 
partly  of  historical  facts  and  partly  of  dogmatic 
inferences  .  .  .  The  one  belongs  to  a  world  of 
Syrian  peasants,  the  other  to  a  world  of  Greek 
philosophers.  .  .  .  An  ethical  sermon  stood  in  the 
forefront  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus   Christ  and   a 


The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  55 


metaphysical     creed     in     the     forefront     of    the 
Christianity  of  the  fourth  century."      And,  to  take 
but  one  other  illustration,  we  are  told  in  a  recent 
volume  by  a  popular  writer  that  "  among  all  the 
creeds  of  Christendom  the  only  one  which  has  the 
authority  of  Christ  Himself  is  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.     When    one  reads   the   creed  which  was 
given    by  Jesus  and  the  creeds  which   have  been 
made  by  Christians,  he  cannot  fail  to  detect  an 
immense  difference,  and  it  does  not  matter  whether 
he  selects  the  Nicene  Creed  or  the  Westminster 
Confession.      They  all  have  a  family  likeness  to 
each  other,  and  a  family  unlikeness  to  the  Sermon 
on    the    Mount."     And    these  things,  after    being 
thought  and  written  in  the  study,  have  gradually 
filtered  down  to  the  street,  until  now  we  are  met 
on  every  side  with  the  cry,  "  Do  not  trouble  us 
with  Christian  doctrine,  give  us  Christian  morality  ; 
stick  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount." 

Nor  is  the  demand  wholly  without  reason.  It 
is  in  part  and  with  some  a  healthy  revolt  from 
that  barren  and  empty  orthodoxy  which  shortens 
the  commandments  while  it  lengthens  the  creed, 
and  which  has  been  the  abomination  of  desolation 
set  up  in  the  Christian  Church  through  all  the 
centuries  of  its  chequered  history.  By  all  means 
let  us  stick  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  If  only 
we  were  all  half  as  eager  to  obey  its  precepts  as 
some  of  us  are  to  applaud  them  the  world  would 
speedily  become  a  much  better  place  to  live  in. 
But  what  I  want  to  make  clear  is  this,  that  no  one 


56  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

can  hold  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  unless  he 
is  prepared  to  hold  to  very  much  else  besides. 
Accept  this  and  you  must  accept  much  more  than 
this.  And,  further,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is 
not  and  was  not  meant  to  be  God's  first  and  last 
word  to  man.  If  Christ  had  only  set  before  us 
this  awful  height,  and  had  not  then  begun  to  build 
the  steps  by  which  we  may  climb  to  it.  He  had 
but  left  us  in  despair,  and  our  last  state  had  been 
worse  than  our  first. 

These  are  the  two  points  I  wish  now  briefly  to 
emphasize.  But  before  doing  so,  let  me  add  one 
other  word  by  way  of  parenthesis.  Do  not,  I 
beseech  you,  have  any  part  or  lot  in  this  un- 
worthy clamour  against  theology.  Let  it  be 
admitted  that  the  Church  has  often  obstinately 
clung  to  worn-out  forms  which  have  lost  the 
meaning  which  was  once  their  life  ;  that  she  has 
often  blindly  refused  to  readjust  her  doctrines  to 
the  new  revelations  of  a  new  time  ;  that,  indeed, 
theologians  have  themselves  sometimes  been 
theology's  worst  enemies.  Nevertheless,  so  long 
as  man  believes  in  a  God,  and  so  long  as  he  can 
think,  so  long  will  he  continue  to  fashion  for 
himself  a  theology  of  one  kind  or  another. 
"But,"  some  one  may  ask,  "  if  we  have  the  New 
Testament,  what  more  do  we  want  ?  "  Well,  and 
we  have  the  rocks  and  the  stars  which  every  man 
can  see,  yet  I  never  heard  it  suggested  that, 
therefore,  geology  and  astronomy  are  useless,  and 
our  science  classes  a  waste  of  time.     "  Yes,"  you 


The  Sennon  on  the  Mount  57 

reply,  "  but  our  sciences  are  only  the  orderly 
grouping  of  the  observed  facts  of  nature  in  the 
heavens  above,  and  the  earth  beneath,  and  the 
waters  under  the  earth.  Geology — that  is  simply 
the  rocks  over  again,  but  the  rocks  arranged, 
classified,  labelled."  Precisely,  and  in  so  saying 
you  have  furnished  at  once  the  definition  and  the 
vindication  of  theology  ;  it  is  man's  attempt  to 
set  forth  in  orderly  array  and  system  the  truths 
of  Divine  Revelation.  Some  who  read  these 
words  may  find  little  interest  in  theological 
inquiries,  their  tastes  and  gifts  may  lead  them  in 
other  directions  ;  but  at  least  let  them  pray  to  be 
delivered  from  the  intellectual  littleness  that  has 
only  scorn  for  the  earnest  and  patient  toil  of 
generations  of  saintly  thinkers  pondering  the 
deep  things  of  God. 

But  this,  as  I  said,  is  a  parenthesis.  I  return 
to  the  two  points  which  I  have  named  for  special 
emphasis. 


When  men  cry  "  A  fig  for  your  theology ! 
Give  us  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  they  are 
really  asking,  little  as  they  realize  it,  an  impossible 
thing.  For  the  truth  is,  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  is  saturated  with  theological  ideas.  I  do 
not  mean  that  the  theology  is  set  forth  explicitly 
and  in  detail  as  it  is,  e.g.  in  the  Nicene  Creed  ; 
nevertheless,  it  is  there,  implicit  if  not  explicit, 
always     assumed,    if    not     distinctly    formulated. 


58  A  Yoimg  Mans  Religion 

When  men  speak  as  if  the  Sermon  consisted  only 
of  a  few  beautiful  and  simple  moral  ideas,  the  only- 
charitable  conclusion  to  which  we  can  come  is 
that  they  have  never  carefully  read  it  for  them- 
selves. Its  morality  and  theology  are  inextric- 
ably interwoven  throughout.  Accept  the  Sermon, 
the  whole  of  the  Sermon,  and  all  that  the  Sermon 
fairly  implies,  and  you  have  already  the  beginnings 
of  a  system  of  Christian  doctrine.  Let  me  illustrate 
what  I  mean. 

We  will   begin  with  its   most  familiar  words  : 
"  After    this    manner,    therefore,    pray    ye :     Our 

Father "       But    stay,    already    we    have    an 

implied  doctrine  of  God  and  of  prayer.  "  If  ye 
forgive  men  their  trespasses,  your  heavenly  Father 
will  also  forgive  you.  But  if  ye  forgive  not 
men  their  trespasses,  neither  will  your  Father 
forgive  your  trespasses."  And  now  to  our 
doctrines  of  God  and  of  prayer  we  have  added  a 
doctrine  of  sin  and  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin.  A 
few  verses  farther  on  in  the  Sermon  we  come 
upon  this :  "  Be  not,  therefore,  anxious,  saying, 
What  shall  we  eat  ?  or.  What  shall  we  drink  ?  or, 
Wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed  ?  for  your 
heavenly  Father  knoweth  that  ye  have  need  of 
these  things."  Here,  manifestly,  is  a  doctrine  of 
Divine  Providence  ;  and  as  the  Sermon  draws  to 
its  close  it  is  with  a  vision  of  judgment  and  of 
the  future  :  "  Many  will  say  to  Me  in  that  day, 
Lord,  Lord,  did  we  not  prophesy  by  Thy  name, 
and   by  Thy  name  cast  out   devils,  and   by  Thy 


The  Sermon  on  the  Motuit  59 

name  do  many  mighty  works  ?  And  then  will  I 
profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew  you  :  depart 
from  Me,  ye  that  work  iniquity." 

Again,  as  has  been  truly  said,  the  motives  to 
which  the  pure  and  lofty  morality  of  the  Sermon 
appeals  are  purely  theological.  "  We  are  to  do 
good" — I  quote  Dr.  Samuel  Cox's  convenient 
summing-up — "  hoping  for  nothing  in  return,  we 
are  to  give  alms  without  advertising  them,  we  are 
to  love  all  men,  even  our  enemies,  we  are  to 
requite  good  for  evil,  and  give  a  blessing  for  a 
curse,  not  from  any  merely  ethical  motive,  but 
from  purely  religious  motives,  that  we  may  please 
our  Father  who  seeth  in  secret,  that  we  may 
prove  ourselves  to  be  His  children,  that  we  may 
become  perfect,  even  as  He  is  perfect.  We  are 
not  to  be  careful  because  our  Father  careth  for 
us ;  we  are  to  forgive  because  He  has  forgiven 
us  ;  we  are  to  ask  for  what  we  want,  because  our 
Father  knows  how  to  give  His  good  gifts  ;  and  we 
are  not  to  be  importunate  in  our  prayers,  because 
our  Father  knoweth  what  we  have  need  of  before 
we  ask  Him.  In  short,  the  whole  round  of 
motives  in  this  Sermon  is  purely  theological." 

We  have  not  exhausted  the  theology  of  this 
so-called  "  ethical  sermon "  yet.  The  most  im- 
portant point  still  remains  :  who  is  the  Preacher  ? 
The  question  cannot  be  evaded.  The  Speaker 
Himself  forces  it  upon  us,  for  He  speaks  through- 
out in  His  own  name,  He  rests  all  these  great 
moral   demands   on    His  own   authority.      This   it 


6o  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

was  which  caught  the  attention  of  the  multitudes, 
and  filled  them  with  astonishment :  "  He  taught 
them  as  one  having  authority  and  not  as  their 
scribes."  And  when  we  read  the  Sermon  it  is  not 
difficult  to  understand  their  wonderment.  Over 
against  the  solemn  "  Thus  saith  .the  Lord  "  of  the 
Old  Testament  He  sets  His  own  simple  "  I  say 
unto  you."  He  is  the  Finisher  of  that  law  of 
which  Moses  and  the  prophets  were  the  authors  ; 
in  Him  as  in  a  centre  converge  all  the  rays  of  the 
earlier  revelation.  He  not  only  bids  His  disciples 
pray,  He  teaches  them  how  to  pray,  by  what  name 
they  shall  name  God  when  they  come  into  His 
presence.  He  speaks  throughout  as  one  who 
is  at  home  in  the  eternal  world,  familiar  with 
the  secret  counsels  of  the  Most  High  God.  He 
divides  men,  saying  who  are  fit  and  who  are  un- 
fit for  a  place  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  yet  He 
does  not  argue.  He  simply  affirms  that  things  are 
as  He  says  they  are.  And  most  amazing  of  all. 
He  lifts  for  a  moment  the  veil  that  hides  the 
future,  and  He  declares  that  in  that  unseen  world 
beyond,  it  shall  be  well  or  it  shall  be  ill  with 
men,  according  as  they  have  obeyed  or  disobeyed 
His  words. 

Now  who,  what,  is  He  who  thus  speaks  to  us  ? 
Surely,  if  (as  I  am  supposing)  we  accept  the 
moral  precepts  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  as 
binding  upon  ourselves,  that  is  a  question  to 
which,  as  reasoning  and  reasonable  men,  we  are 
bound  to  have  an  answer.     The  words  themselves 


The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  6 1 

are  great,  but  He  who  is  behind  them  is  far 
greater,  and  we  want  some  account  of  Him.  But 
now,  do  you  not  see,  we  have  passed  again,  almost 
without  realizing  it,  into  the  region  of  things 
doctrinal  ;  and  we  stand  at  this  moment  on  the 
margin  of  the  greatest  of  all  theological  questions, 
viz.  the  Person  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Of 
course  I  am  not  going  to  discuss  that  now  ;  but 
I  hope  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  those 
great  creeds  of  the  ancient  Church,  which  even 
wise  men  to-day  sometimes  affect  to  make  light  of, 
were  in  reality  the  attempt,  the  honest  and  earnest 
attempt,  of  the  Church  to  realize  its  own  conscious- 
ness, and  to  throw  into  definite  and  memorable 
form  the  faith  which,  not  then  for  the  first  time, 
but  through  all  her  history,  she  had  held  concern- 
ing Him  whom  she  worshipped  as  Lord,  and 
whose  words  she  received  as  Divine.  If  it  be 
said  that  the  attempt  was  not  always  successful, 
and  that  in  any  case  it  is  idle  to  imagine  that  we 
can  tie  men  down  to-day  to  any  form  of  words, 
however  admirable  and  venerable  they  may  be,  I 
am  not  anxious  to  dispute  the  matter.  But  this 
I  will  be  bold  to  say — that  if  a  man  will  take  the 
three  chapters  of  Matthew's  Gospel  which  contain 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  will  follow  out  the 
lines  which,  with  a  blundering  hand,  I  have 
endeavoured  to  trace,  and  will  answer  the  ques- 
tions which  I  have  raised,  he  will  end  with  a 
doctrine  of  the  Christ  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount   not    easily   to  be  distinguished   from   the 


62  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

Christ  of  St.  Paul's   Epistles,  or,  as   I   believe,  of 
even  the  despised  Nicene  Creed. 

II 

The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  not,  and  was 
not  meant  to  be,  the  sum  and  substance  of  the 
Christian  Gospel.  To  identify  these  two  things — 
the  Sermon  and  the  Gospel — is  to  ignore  nine- 
tenths  of  the  New  Testament,  and  to  make  the 
whole  of  it,  including  the  Sermon,  ineffectual  and 
inoperative.  And  to  establish  this  it  is  un- 
necessary to  go  farther  than  the  words  of  Christ 
Himself  The  writer,  whose  words  I  have 
quoted  above,  speaks  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  as  "  the  creed  of  Jesus."  But  by  what 
right  do  we  separate  this  from  the  rest  of  the 
recorded  teaching  of  Christ,  and  give  to  it  this 
lofty  and  lonely  pre-eminence  ?  If  we  are  to 
draw  up  a  "  creed  of  Jesus  "  at  all,  will  not  this 
need  to  be  in,  "  I  and  My  Father  are  one  "  ?  and 
this,  "  The  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a 
ransom  for  many "  ?  and  this,  "  As  Moses  lifted 
up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  so  must  the  Son 
of  man  be  lifted  up  :  that  whosoever  believeth 
may  in  Him  have  eternal  life "  ?  and  this,  "  Ye 
must  be  born  again."  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
the  creed  of  Jesus  ?  There  is  warrant  neither  in 
Scripture  nor  in  reason  for  the  limitation. 

"  Back  to  Christ,"  men  cry.  Yes  ;  but  to  what 
Christ?      To  the  Christ  of  the  whole  Gospels,  and 


The  Sermon  on  the  Monnt  63 

all  the  Gospels — the  Christ  of  the  Fourth  as  well 
as  of  the  First  Gospel — the  Christ  who  was  born 
of  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  wrought  great  miracles, 
who  died  on  Calvary,  who  rose  again  from  the 
dead,  who  ascended  into  heaven,  and  who  ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us  ?  Back  to  that 
Christ  ?  Amen  and  amen  !  He  it  is  whom, 
through  all  her  history,  the  Church  has  worshipped 
as  Lord  and  God  ;  we  live  but  as  we  live  in  Him. 
But  if  when  men  say,  "  Back  to  Christ,"  they 
mean  "  Back  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  a  good  man 
who  went  about  doing  good,  who  spake  undying 
words  of  truth  and  love,  and  died  a  holy  martyr's 
death " — if  that  is  all  they  mean  we  can  only 
answer,  "  No  !  ten  thousand  times  no  !  "  for  there 
is  not,  and  there  never  has  been,  and  there  never 
can  be,  salvation  by  example  or  ethics  alone, 
even  though  they  be  the  example  and  ethics  of 
Jesus. 

What  is  it  that  has  given  to  the  words  of 
Jesus  their  unique  power  in  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  men?  Is  it  not  the  fact  that  they  are  His 
words,  the  words  of  Him  whose  glory  John  be- 
held, "glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  from  the 
Father"?  And  separate  from  Him,  they  are 
lifeless,  and  ineffectual,  and  proclaim  no  gospel. 
It  is  in  the  revelation  of  what  He  was  and  did 
even  more  than  in  what  He  said  of  His  Life  and 
Death,  even  more  than  in  His  words  that  men 
have  found  healing  and  peace.  As  Dr.  Dale  has 
said    with    profound    truth,   Christ    came    not   so 


64  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

much  to  preach  a  Gospel  as  rather  that  there 
might  be  a  Gospel  to  preach.  His  coming  meant 
much  more  than  the  issue  of  a  revised  and  en- 
larged edition  of  the  Moral  Law  ;  it  meant  the 
bringing  in  of  a  new  power  that  should  make  for 
righteousness  ;  it  meant  the  pouring  of  a  new 
tide  of  life  into  the  world's  poor  shrunken  veins. 
And  until  we  understand  this,  the  New  Testament 
will  remain,  for  the  most  part,  a  sealed  book  to 
us.  Paul  and  John  and  Peter  have  comparatively 
little  to  say  in  exposition  of  the  moral  precepts 
of  Jesus  ;  it  is  upon  Himself  and  the  mighty  work 
He  wrought  that  they  fix  their  adoring  eyes  ;  and 
however  we  may  stumble  at  it,  it  is  difficult  to 
believe  that  either  the  Apostle  himself  or  those 
who  had  put  themselves  to  school  with  his  Epistle 
to  the  Colossians,  would  have  hesitated  to  sign 
their  acceptance  of  the  Nicene  Creed. 

Nor  is  there,  in  all  this — need  it  be  said  ? — 
any  depreciation  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
The  foolish  and  superficial  persons  who  dismiss  it 
as  "  mere  morality  "  may  themselves  be  dismissed 
without  further  notice.  It  is  rather,  as  one  writer 
well  says,  "  the  summit  of  Christianity,  a  summit 
which  the  farthest-climbing  saints  see  far  off  in 
the  dim  distance."  But  what  I  want  us  to  realize 
is,  that  if  all  that  Christ  had  done  for  us  had  been 
to  set  up  this  fair  ideal,  then  had  He  never  been 
the  world's  Saviour.  My  old  theological  professor 
staggered  some  of  us  in  his  class-room  one  day 
when  he  told  us  bluntly,  that  if  we  only  had   the 


The  Sermon  on  the  Motint  65 

Sermon  on  the  Mount  we  should  be  lost.  But 
one  at  least  of  his  students  has  learned  the  truth 
of  his  words.  Men  are  not  going  astray  because 
there  is  no  one  to  cry,  "  This  is  the  way,  walk  ye 
in  it "  ;  they  are  not  stumbling  into  the  pit  because 
there  is  no  one  to  warn  them  of  their  peril.  The 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  the  law  for  them  that 
have  entered  into  life  ;  it  is  not  the  way  of  life 
itself. 

Does  any  one  doubt  it  ?  Then  let  him  appeal 
to  the  religious  history  of  our  own  land.  The 
Church  has  tried  the  experiment,  more  than  once, 
and  on  a  pretty  large  scale,  of  preaching  morality 
apart  from  Christ.  We  tried  it  in  England  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  we  tried  it  in  Scotland 
during  the  dreary  reign  of  "  Moderatism  "  ;  and 
with  what  results  in  each  case  no  one  needs  to  be 
told.  And  if  this  is  not  sufficient,  let  him  repeat 
the  experiment  for  himself  to-day.  Let  him  go 
down  to  the  dark  places  of  our  great  cities,  and 
gather  about  him  the  drunkard,  the  profligate, 
and  the  criminal  ;  let  him  tell  them  to  be  loving 
and  honest  and  pure,  to  do  unto  others  as  they 
would  that  others  should  do  unto  them, — let 
him  tell  them  that  and  no  more  than  that,  and 
see  what  will  come  of  it.  And  if  he  is  still  un- 
satisfied, let  him  come  nearer  home  still.  Let 
him  set  before  himself  the  awful  height  of  Christ's 
great  words,  and  begin  to  climb  and  see  how  soon 
it  will  be  before  the  cry  will  be  wrung  from  him, 
"  Who  is  sufficient  for  those  things  ?  "      Ah,  yes  ; 

F 


66  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

when  a  man  is  a  cripple,  it  is  not  a  guide-post 
that  he  needs,  but  strength  wherewith  to  walk. 
The  sublimest  precepts  can  never  quicken  into 
life  them  that  are  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins. 

What,  then,  is  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter  ?  "  Ye  shall  be  perfect,  as  your  heavenly 
Father  is  perfect."  The  top  of  the  ladder  rests 
on  that  shining  summit ;  but  the  foot  of  it  is 
down  here  in  the  horrible  pit  and  miry  clay  of 
man's  sin  ;  and  the  first  rungs  in  the  ladder  are 
these,  "  Repentance  towards  God,  and  faith  toward 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  The  perfection  of  God — 
that  is  the  end  of  the  way  whose  entrance  is  the 
strait  gate  of  penitence.  If  we  turn  to  Him,  He 
will  forgive  us,  and  His  forgiveness  shall  be  as 
"  the  first  link  of  a  golden  chain  unwinding  from 
His  hand,  by  which  we  may  ascend  to  the  perfect 
possession  of  our  inheritance  in  God." 


CHRIST'S    APPEAL    TO    THE 
INTELLECT 


^^  God  reasons  %vith  man  —  that  is  the  first  article  of  religion, 
according  to  Isaiah.  Revelation  is  not  magical,  htt  rational  and 
moral.  Religion  is  reasotiable  intercourse  between  one  intelligent 
Being  and  another. " — George  Adam  SjvnjH. 

*^  Human  nattire  craves  to  be  both  religions  and  rational.  And 
Hhe  life  which  is  not  both  is  neither.''^ — AuBREY  L.  Moore. 


CHRIST'S  APPEAL  TO  THE  INTELLECT 

"  n^HOU  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  ivith  all 
^  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul^  and  zvith 
all  thy  inmd,  and  with  all  thy  strength  ;  "  that  is 
to  say,  Christianity  claims  the  homage  of  the  whole 
man.  The  "  heart "  is  named,  first,  as  "  the  central 
focus  from  which  all  the  rays  of  the  moral  life  go 
forth."  ^  Then  come  the  three  forms  of  activity  in 
which  that  life  manifests  itself — the  soul,  the  mind, 
the  strength,  or,  as  we  should  say  to-day,  the 
feelings,  the  intellect,  the  will.  And  all  these, 
Christ  says,  have  their  place  in  religion  ;  they  are 
all  to  be  pressed  into  the  Divine  service  :  ''  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  soul,  and 
with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy  strength." 

Here,  however,  it  is  of  the  relation  of  the 
intellect  to  Christ  that  I  wish  especially  to  speak. 
And  I  single  out  this  aspect  of  the  whole  subject, 
not  because  it  is  the  most  important,  but  because 
it  is  that  of  which  we  think  least.      We  know,  if 

1  Godet. 


70  A  Young  Man  s  Religion 

we  are  Christians,  that  our  affections  must  go  out 
towards  Christ,  that  our  will  must  bow  to  Him  ; 
but  the  duty  of  our  intellect  is  to  many  of  us  far 
from  clear.  We  mourn  when  our  rebellious  wills 
mutter  against  Him,  when  the  fires  of  our  spiritual 
fervour  die  down  ;  but  our  imperfect  comprehen- 
sion of  His  truth  causes  us  little  or  no  concern. 
We  have  forgotten  that  He  has  commanded  us  to 
love  God,  not  only  with  our  heart  and  soul  and 
strength,  but  also  with  our  mind ;  and  it  is  of  this 
forgotten  duty  that  I  want  now  to  speak. 


Religion,  then,  let  it  be  clearly  understood,  does 
appeal  to  the  intellect ;  it  would  have  reason  as 
its  ally  ;   it  seeks  from  man  a  reasonable  service. 

But,  unfortunately,  men  have  often  come  to 
look  upon  reason  as  the  natural  enemy  of  faith  ; 
they  have  resented  its  just  claims  as  though  they 
were  the  arrogant  pretensions  of  an  intruder  ;  they 
have  treated  it  as  an  alien  power,  which,  as  Dr. 
Dale  says,  "  must  be  fettered,  manacled,  and  im- 
prisoned, if  it  is  to  be  prevented  from  tearing  up 
the  very  foundations  of  the  City  of  God."  It  was 
that  feeling  that  carried  John  Henry  Newman  over 
into  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  It  seemed  to 
him,  as  he  read  the  history  of  the  world,  that  the 
tendency  of  reason  was,  always  and  everywhere, 
towards  unbelief.  What,  he  asked  himself,  could 
withstand  and  baffle  "  the  all-corroding,  all-dissolv- 


Christ's  Appeal  to  the  Intellect  7 1 

ing  scepticism  of  the  intellect  in  religious  inquiries"? 
And  he  found  the  answer,  as  he  thought,  in  a 
Church  "invested  with  the  prerogative  of  infalli- 
bility in  religious  matters." 

It  is  easy  to  criticize  Newman  ;  but  even  among 
us  Protestants  are  there  not  some  who  regard  the 
intellect  with  secret  misgivings  and  suspicion,  and 
sometimes  even  are  ready,  in  the  name  of  religion, 
to  coerce  and  fetter  it  ?  They  shrink  from  inquiry  ; 
they  listen  with  vague  terror  to  every  new  doctrine 
of  science  or  suggestion  of  criticism,  and,  long 
before  they  understand,  make  haste  to  condemn. 
Let  a  young  man  be  found  guilty  of  questioning 
one  of  the  Church's  accepted  doctrines,  and  though 
he  be  a  fellow  church-member,  they  will  straight- 
way give  him  the  cold  shoulder,  and  perhaps  even 
suggest  in  private  that  his  morals  are  no  better 
than  they  should  be.  It  has  been  openly  stated 
that  the  late  Charles  Bradlaugh  received  his  first 
impulse  towards  infidelity  from  the  harsh  and 
unsympathetic  treatment  of  a  Christian  minister, 
to  whom,  in  the  perplexities  of  his  youth,  he  turned 
for  guidance. 

Now,  undoubtedly,  there  is  a  possible  misuse 
of  the  intellect,  which  is  sin,  and  which  ought  to 
be  condemned  as  sin,  just  as  there  may  be  misuse 
of  the  other  powers  of  man.  There  are  sins  of 
pride,  of  prejudice,  of  overweening  confidence,  to 
which  the  intellect  must  plead  guilty.  When,  e.g. 
it  has  regard  not  to  the  whole  facts,  but  only  to 
what   it  chooses  to   see  ;   when   it  pushes   beyond 


72  A  Yo2mg  Mans  Religion 

its  own  province,  and  makes  itself  judge  of  all 
things  in  heaven  and  earth  ;  above  all,  when  it 
seeks  to  lord  it  over  the  conscience,  and,  justifying 
by  logic  that  which  a  louder  voice  condemns, 
becomes  "  procuress  to  the  Lords  of  Hell," — then 
its  condemnation  is  just,  and  cannot  be  too  severe. 
And,  further,  it  is,  of  course,  true  that  Christ's 
appeal  is  not  primarily  to  the  intellect  ;  and  the 
conversion  of  the  intellect  often  fails,  as  we  all 
know,  to  carry  with  it  the  conversion  of  the  whole 
man.  Thus,  e.g.  in  the  religious  controversies  of 
the  eighteenth  century  it  is  now  generally  admitted 
that  the  victory  lay  with  the  champions  of  ortho- 
doxy, not  with  their  Deistical  opponents,^  and 
this  at  the  very  time  when  practical  religion  was 
at  its  lowest  ebb.  So  that,  as  one  historian  of 
the  period  says,  Christianity  in  England  was  in 
this  strange  position  :  "  It  had  been  irrefragably 
proved,  as  against  its  then  opponents  ;  it  was 
established  speculatively  on  the  firmest  of  firm 
bases ;  but  speculation  was  not  carried  into 
practice.  The  doctrine  was  accepted,  but  the 
life  was  not  lived."  Christian  thinkers  and  apolo- 
gists, with  Bishop  Butler  at  their  head,  had  stormed 
and  captured  the  mind  of  England  ;  it  still 
remained   for  Wesley  and   Whitefield   to  win    its 

1  "They  [the  Deists]  are  but  a  nigged  regiment  whose  whole 
ammunition  of  learning  M'as  a  trifle  when  compared  with  the  abund- 
ant stores  of  a  single  light  of  orthodoxy  ;  whilst  in  speculative  ability 
they  were  children  by  the  side  of  some  of  their  antagonists." — Leslie 
Stephen  (quoted  in  Overton's  Evangelical  Revival  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century). 


Christ's  Appeal  to  the  Intellect         y2) 

heart  and  soul,  and  lay  the  whole  land  at  the  feet 
of  Christ. 

Nevertheless,  whatever  may  be  the  sins  of  the 
intellect,  and  true  as  it  is  that  Christ's  appeal  is 
not  addressed  primarily  to  it,  the  fact  remains  : 
the  intellect  has  its  part  in  the  religious  life,  and 
they  who  in  the  name  of  religion  would  bind  it  in 
chains,  only  reveal  thereby  that  they  have  not  the 
mind  of  Christ.  For,  consider  :  man  is  one  ;  and 
how  can  that  which  mocks  and  insults  my  reason 
command  my  conscience  ?  That  were  an  out- 
rage upon  the  unity  of  the  nature  which  God  has 
given  me.  "  Human  nature,"  it  has  been  finely 
said,  "  craves  to  be  both  religious  and  rational. 
And  the  life  which  is  not  both  is  neither."  And, 
further,  is  not  poor,  despised  reason  itself  God's 
gift  to  man  ?  Is  it  not  part  of  the  Divine  image, 
with  which,  at  his  creation.  He  endowed  him  ? 
And  is  it  conceivable  that  God,  by  grace,  shall  so 
undo  His  work  by  nature  as  to  make  the  putting 
out  of  the  eyes  of  our  understanding  the  first 
condition  of  His  saving  us  ? 

What  saith  the  Scripture?  Is  there  any 
warrant  there  for  the  contumely  which  men  have 
poured  upon  the  reason  ?  If  there  be,  I  do  not 
know  where  to  find  it.  On  the  contrary,  I  find 
all  through  the  Bible  appeals  addressed  to  men  as 
reasoning  and  reasonable  creatures.  The  first 
article  of  religion  according  to  Isaiah,  says  one 
of  the  prophet's  best  interpreters,  is  this  :  God 
reasons    with    man.       Indeed,    God's    controversy 


74  ^  Yomig  Mail  s  Religion 

with  His  people  was  on  this  very  ground.  They 
would  not  think :  "  Israel  doth  not  know,  my 
people  doth  not  consider."  The  Psalmist  prayed, 
"  Give  me  understanding,  and  I  shall  keep  Thy 
precepts."  Christ  bade  us  love  the  Lord  our  God 
with  all  our  mind  ;  and  the  writer  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  has  long  complaint  to  make 
against  his  readers,  because  of  their  imperfect 
understanding  of  Christian  doctrine :  "  When," 
he  says,  "  by  reason  of  the  time  ye  ought  to  be 
teachers,  ye  have  need  again  that  some  one  teach 
you  the  rudiments  of  the  first  principles  of  the 
oracles  of  God ;  and  are  become  such  as  have 
need  of  milk,  and  not  of  solid  food."  "  Where- 
fore," he  exhorts  them,  "  let  us  cease  to  speak  of 
the  first  principles  of  Christ,  and  press  on  unto 
perfection." 

But  the  example  of  Paul  is,  perhaps,  our  best 
answer  to  them  that  look  upon  religion  as  the 
enemy  of  reason.  Here  is  his  missionary  method, 
as  described  by  St.  Luke  :  "  Paul,  as  his  custom 
was,  went  in  unto  them  [the  Jews  at  Thessalonica], 
and  for  three  Sabbath  days  reasoned  with  them 
from  the  scriptures,  opening  and  alleging  that  it 
behoved  the  Christ  to  suffer,  and  to  rise  again 
from  the  dead."  Nor  do  we  find  that  this 
"reasoning"  produced  either  in  St.  Paul  or  in 
his  hearers  any  of  those  terrible  effects  which  to 
Newman  seemed  inevitable ;  for,  in  the  same 
chapter,  Luke  tells  us,  the  Beraeans  "  received  the 
word  with  all  readiness  of  mind,  examining  the 


Chrisfs  Appeal  to  the  Intellect  7  5 

scriptures  daily,  whether  these  things  were  so. 
Many  of  them  therefore  believed!'  So  far  was  the 
Apostle's  faith  from  silencing  his  reason  that  it 
gave  to  it  freer  play  than  ever.  The  mental 
strenuousness  of  his  Epistles  is  almost  as  marked 
as  the  glow  of  their  spiritual  devotion  ;  and  there 
is  hardly  a  letter  from  his  pen  which  does  not 
imply  that  he  expects  in  his  converts  the  same 
vigorous  thought  concerning  religion  that  he 
gave  to  it  himself.  "  Prove  all  things,"  he  bade 
the  Thessalonians  ;  "  hold  fast  that  which  is  good." 
"  And  this  I  pray,"  he  told  the  Philippians,  "  that 
your  love  may  abound  yet  more  and  more  in 
knowledge  and  all  discernment ;  so  that  ye  may 
approve  the  things  that  are  excellent."  Indeed 
it  was,  as  Dr.  Stalker  has  said,  specially  in  the 
region  of  the  intellect  that  Christianity  laid  hold 
of  Paul.  It  was  to  him  a  message  of  truth — 
truth  concerning  God,  the  world,  and  himself 
"  There  was  plenty  of  emotion  besides  ;  but  the 
emotion  for  him  came  after  the  clear  intellectual 
conviction,  and  sprang  out  of  it "  ;  so  that,  as  Dr. 
Stalker  goes  on  to  say,  "  Christianity,  as  it  went 
through  the  cities  of  the  world  in  St.  Paul's 
person,  must  have  gone  as  a  great  intellectual 
awakening,  which  taught  men  to  use  their  minds, 
investigating  the  profoundest  problems  of  life." 

It  would  not  be  difficult,  I  think,  to  push  the 
argument  a  step  farther,  and  to  show  how  almost 
all  the  great  religious  movements  of  history  on 
their  human   side  originated  in   and  were  shaped 


76  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

by  some  strong  and  sanctified  intellect.  But  I 
may  not  pursue  that  path  now.  Let  me  add 
these  two  words:  (i)  Inasmuch  as  Christ  makes 
His  appeal  to  the  intellect,  it  is  always  the  duty 
of  the  Church  to  make  its  faith  reasonable  to 
reasonable  minds.  In  itself,  and  as  it  is,  it  is  so  ; 
it  is  for  us  to  show  that  it  is  so.  We  must  make 
Divine  truth  living  for  the  intellect  in  order  that 
it  may  be  regal  for  the  conscience.  (2)  If  Christ 
does  not  fear  to  trust  Himself  and  His  claims  to 
the  judgment  of  man's  reason,  neither  should  we. 
Is  it  not  time  that  Christian  men  and  women  had 
outgrown  the  panics  of  fear  that  still  sometimes 
seize  us  at  the  mere  mention  of  some  new 
suggestion  by  students  of  science  or  religion  ? 
Intellectual  fear  on  God's  behalf  is  always  stupid 
impiety.  True,  scholarship  is  not  infallible  and 
may  blunder  ;  but  its  blunders  can  be  corrected 
not  by  ignorance,  however  pious,  but  only  by  a 
wiser  and  truer  scholarship.  Therefore  let  us, 
whose  are  neither  the  duties  nor  the  responsi- 
bilities of  the  scholar,  have  faith  in  God  and  go 
on  with  our  work. 


II 

Thus  far  I  have  been  endeavouring  to  vindicate 
the  rights  of  the  intellect  in  relation  to  religion. 
It  remains  for  me  now  briefly  to  emphasize  its 
duties.  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all    thy    mind " :     where    that    commandment    is 


Christ's  Appeal  to  the  Intellect  "JJ 


disobeyed  and  the  service  of  the  mind  is  withheld 
from  God,  the  vigour  of  the  whole  religious  life 
is  impaired  and  its  development  checked. 

The  duty  of  religious  thoughtfulness,  by  which 
I  mean  the  duty  of  thinking  upon  and  thinking 
out  the  great  truths  of  Divine  revelation  is  to- 
day very  imperfectly  realized  even  by  devout  and 
intelligent  Christians.  Our  modern  impatience 
of  theology,  our  unwillingness  to  face  and  "tackle" 
its  deepest  problems,  the  dearth  among  us  of 
really  great  theologians,  all  seem  to  indicate  a 
feebler  recognition  on  the  part  of  the  Christian 
Church  of  our  obligation  to  serve  God  with  our 
mind.  We  have  been  lured  by  the  cry  for  a 
more  practical  religion  into  the  neglect  of  the 
duty  of  intellectual  toil.  But  it  is  in  the  interests 
of  practical  religion  itself  that  we  ought  to  resist 
the  temptation.  The  Church  is  never  safe,  and 
her  whole  duty  to  the  world  is  never  fulfilled, 
except  when  evangelistic  activity  and  sacred 
speculation  go  hand  in  hand.  Let  me  make  my 
meaning  plainer  by  one  or  two  illustrations. 

Take  the  history  of  religion  in  Scotland. 
There  you  have,  as  all  the  world  knows,  a  people 
peculiarly  distinguished  for  their  interest  in  grave 
matters  of  theological  inquiry,  who  have  not 
hesitated  to  deal,  sometimes  in  the  most  trenchant 
and  confident  fashion,  with  the  greatest  mysteries 
of  our  faith.  And,  undoubtedly,  they  have  often 
in  this  way  laid  themselves  open  to  the  gibes  of 
their  shallower,  if  more  nimble-witted,  neighbours 


78  A  Voting  Mans  Religion 

in  the  south.  But  will  any  one  deny  who  knows 
Scotland,  that  it  is  this  habit  of  resolutely  facing 
some  of  the  deepest  questions  of  life  and  thought 
that  has  given  to  the  Scottish  character  its  in- 
tellectual vigour,  its  sturdy  strength,  its  manly 
piety  ?  There  were  humble  village  churches  in 
the  last  century,  like  Boston  of  Ettrick's,  that 
were  centres  of  intellectual  stimulus  to  a  whole 
countryside.  I  have  read  of  a  Scottish  farmer 
who  walked  fifty  miles  every  Sabbath  day  to 
hear  Boston  work  his  way  through  the  "  Fourfold 
State."  Well,  the  times  have  changed  ;  but  does 
any  one  suppose  that  a  sensuous  and  elaborate 
ritualism,  that  can  only  spare  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes  during  the  hour  of  public  worship  for 
definite  instruction  in  the  things  of  God,  will  do 
for  this  generation  what  the  preaching  of  men 
like  Thomas  Boston  did  for  Scotland  nearly  two 
hundred  years  ago  ? 

Or  come  nearer  home  and  look  at  the  work  of 
the  Salvation  Army.  I  have  no  words  in  which 
to  speak  my  admiration  of  the  magnificent  heroism 
with  which  the  Army  has  set  itself  to  solve  some 
of  the  worst  problems  of  our  time  ;  but  even  its 
warmest  friends  cannot  shut  their  eyes  to  the 
utter  inadequacy  of  its  provision  for  the  growth 
and  development  of  the  spiritual  life  of  those 
whom  it  has  rescued.  It  may  be  said  that  the 
Army  is  recruited  for  the  most  part  from  the 
gutter,  and  that  its  converts  are  usually  men  and 
women  of  a  very  low  degree  of  intellectual  attain- 


Christ's  Appeal  to  the  Intellect         79 

ment.  I  can  only  reply,  the  greater  is  the  need 
of  careful  Christian  instruction.  It  was  with  just 
such  materials  Paul  built  up  many  of  the  first 
Christian  churches,  and  it  was  to  men  with  just 
such  a  past  he  addressed  his  wonderful,  thought- 
stirring  letters.  It  is,  perhaps,  no  wonder  that  in 
the  joy  of  saving  men  we  sometimes  forget  the 
duty  of  nurturing  them  ;  yet  we  may  receive  it  as 
an  axiom  in  all  our  work  that  "  when  the  intellect 
has  no  part,  or  very  little  part,  in  the  religious 
life,  the  religious  life  will  never  have  in  it  the 
elements  of  enduring  vigour." 

It  would  be  interesting  to  read  over  again  the 
history  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  the  light  of 
what  has  just  been  said.  But  I  have  no  space  to 
say  more  than  this,  that  if  there,  too,  there  are 
perilous  tendencies  needing  to  be  watched,  the 
history  of  Methodism  itself  should  suggest  the 
necessary  safeguards.  For  never,  perhaps,  since 
St.  Paul,  has  the  Church  shown  such  an  example 
of  the  strong  thinker  aflame  with  the  zeal  of  the 
evangelist,  as  in  the  life  and  work  of  John 
Wesley.  And  if  Methodism  is  to  continue  to 
flourish  it  must  know,  like  its  founder,  both  how 
to  reason  and  how  to  plead.  If  it  fail  to  do 
either  it  will  soon  cease  to  do  both. 

What,  then,  is  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter  ?  In  the  first  place,  let  those  who  are 
already  in  the  ministry,  and  young  men  who  seek 
to  enter  it,  and  the  whole  Church  of  Christ,  keep 
steadily    in    mind     that    this    is     a    work    which 


8o  A  Yoicng  Man's  Religion 

demands  the  very  best  of  which  a  man  is  capable 
and  which  the  Church  can  produce.  In  a  recent 
Httle  work  on  the  Erskines,  the  founders  of  the 
Secession  Church  of  Scotland,  we  are  told  that 
though  urgent  requests  for  "  supply  of  sermon  " 
poured  in  upon  the  newly  -  formed  Presbytery 
from  clamant  parishes  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
the  seceders  firmly  refused  to  ordain  any  one  who 
had  not  been  as  fully  trained  as  the  law  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland  required.  It  would  be  well 
for  the  Church  of  Christ  if  her  leaders  to-day 
would  always  show  a  like  courage  and  foresight. 
Better,  far  better,  that  we  should  suffer  temporary 
inconvenience  and  loss  than  that  the  standard 
of  ministerial  efficiency  should  be  lowered,  and  in- 
competent workmen  thrust  into  God's  harvest  field. 
But,  above  all,  we  need  as  individual  Christians 
to  learn  that  we  owe  to  Christ  the  service  of  our 
minds.  "  As  long,"  says  Dr.  Dale,  "  as  men  are 
unwilling  to  serve  God  with  their  understanding, 
they  withhold  from  Him  half  His  claims."  Deep 
and  earnest  feeling  is  good  ;  and  if  a  man's 
religion  never  sets  him  on  fire,  either  there  must 
be  very  little  of  it,  or  his  whole  nature  must  be 
frost-bound.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  feeling  that 
is  not  rooted  in  intelligent  conviction  is  always  in 
peril.  There  can  be  no  true  growth  which  is  not 
growth  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.      Therefore  when  we  pray 

"Take  my  life,  and  let  it  be 
Consecrated,  Lord,  to  Thee," 


Ckrisfs  Appeal  to  the  Intellect         8 1 

let  us  also  pray — 

"  Take  my  intellect,  and  use 
Every  power  as  Thou  shalt  choose." 

"  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
mind,  and  with  all  thy  strength."  Let  us  take 
every  power  He  has  given  us,  and  twist  it  like 
another  strand  into  the  rope  which  binds  us  to 
Himself, 

"  That  all  our  powers,  with  all  their  might, 
In  His  sole  glory  may  unite." 

In  what  has  gone  before  I  have  appealed  to 
those  who  already  acknowledge  Christ's  claims 
upon  their  life,  to  recognize,  as  part  of  that  claim. 
His  claim  upon  the  intellect.  But  may  it  not  be 
that  there  are  some  who  have  never  yet  acknow- 
ledged the  larger  claim  who  may  be  brought  to 
recognize  and  respond  to  it  through  its  very 
reasonableness  ?  I  do  not  mean  that  a  man  can 
be  argued  into  Christianity  ;  but  I  do  mean  that 
if  a  man  will  sit  down  and  think,  think  about 
himself  and  his  life,  what  he  is  making  of  it,  what 
the  issues,  the  eternal  issues,  of  it  are  to  be  ;  if  he 
will  ponder  the  terrible  fact  of  sin,  the  sin  of  the 
world,  the  sin  of  his  own  heart — how,  like  a  huge 
tidal  wave,  it  submerges  and  overwhelms  the  tiny 
breakwaters  with  which  man  seeks  to  stay  it  ;  and 
then  if  from  himself  he  will  turn  to  Christ,  and 
think  about  the  claims  of  Christ,  and  the  offer  of 
Christ,  how  those   claims    have   been    vindicated, 

G 


82  A  Yotmg  Mails  Religion 

and  that  offer  made  good  in  the  hves  of  the 
saints  of  all  ages,  and  not  only  so,  but  so 
made  good  that  the  best  men  and  women  whom 
he  has  ever  known  were  men  and  women  who 
had  yielded  themselves  to  Christ,  and  were  in  all 
things  ruled  by  Him — if,  I  say,  a  man  will  do 
this,  then  it  may  be  the  very  reasonableness  of 
religion  will  draw  him  to  its  side.  And  this,  also, 
is  part  of  Christ's  appeal  to  the  intellect.  "  Con- 
sider, ye  that  forget  God  ; "  think,  think  until  like 
the  Psalmist  you  are  able  to  say,  ''  I  thought  on 
my  ways,  and  turned  my  feet  unto  Thy  testi- 
monies." 


DIFFICULTIES  ABOUT  RELIGION 


"  Of  the  dark  parts  of  revelation^  there  are  two  sorts :  one  which 
may  be  cleared  tip  by  the  stttdious  application  of  ivell-eDiployed  talents  ; 
the  other,  which  will  always  reside  within  the  shadow  of  God'' s  throne^ 
zohere  it  would  be  impiety  to  intrude" — Warburton. 


VI 

DIFFICULTIES  ABOUT  RELIGION 

AMONG  the  writings  of  John  Foster  (an  author 
whose  works  deserve  something  better  than 
the  general  neglect  into  which  of  late  years  they 
have  fallen)  is  an  essay  entitled  "  The  Aversion  of 
Men  of  Taste  to  Evangelical  Religion,"  in  which 
the  writer  seeks  to  explain  "  some  of  the  causes 
by  which  evangelical  religion  has  been  rendered 
less  acceptable  to  persons  of  cultivated  taste." 
It  is  nearly  a  hundred  years  since  Foster's  essay 
was  published,  so  that  his  treatment  of  the  ques- 
tion, though  marked  by  his  unfailing  intellectual 
vigour  and  good  sense,  is  now  somewhat  out  of 
date.  But  the  problem  itself  is  one  of  perennial 
interest ;  it  is  always  with  us  ;  to  each  new  gener- 
ation it  presents  some  new  phase,  and  it  is  this 
problem  in  some  of  its  present-day  aspects  that  I 
wish  now  briefly  to  consider. 

Now  while  we  recognize  that  the  problem 
exists,  let  us  take  care  that  we  do  not  exaggerate 
its   gravity.      That    many  hesitate   to   believe  in 


86  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

Christ,  that  some  have  even  ceased  to  believe  in 
Him,  because  of  the  difficulties  which  Christianity 
presents  to  their  minds,  may  be  freely  admitted. 
But  to  assume,  as  writers  like  Mrs.  Humphry 
Ward  are  continually  assuming,  that  orthodox 
Christianity  can  give  no  account  of  itself  to  the 
intellect,  that,  e.g.  men  only  continue  to  believe  in 
miracles  in  the  same  way  as  children  continue  to 
believe  in  the  literal  truth  of  stories  like  "Jack 
and  the  Beanstalk,"  i.e.  only  so  long  as  they  do 
not  think  for  themselves — to  speak  thus,  I  say,  is 
to  ignore  plain  facts  of  life  and  history.  Assump- 
tions of  this  kind  might  be  irritating  if  they  were 
not  so  manifestly  ridiculous.  There  is  no  need 
to  weary  you  with  details  ;  but  let  the  roll  of  the 
great  names  of  our  land  be  called,  and  then  let 
those  from  among  them  who  have  held  and  still 
hold  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  stand  forth,  and  I 
tell  you  that  in  that  day  the  humble  believer  in 
Jesus  shall  not  be  put  to  shame. 

Nevertheless,  the  problem  does  exist.  There 
are  difficulties  which  do  not  so  much  as  touch  the 
lives  of  many,  which  press  with  their  whole  weight 
against  others,  whose  type  and  temperament  and 
training  are  of  a  wholly  different  order,  whose 
lives  move  on  a  wholly  different  intellectual  plane. 
It  is  these  and  such  as  these  that  I  desire  now  to 
keep  specially  in  view.  Speaking  generally,  I 
believe  it  is  best  for  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  to 
be  content  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  leave  the 
truth  to  do  its  own  work  as  the  natural  solvent  of 


Difficulties  about  Religion  2>y 

the  difficulties  which  men  may  feel.  Occasionally, 
however,  it  may  be  well  to  pause  to  consider  the 
difficulties  themselves.      Such  is  our  present  task. 


And  at  the  outset  let  us  remind  ourselves  once 
more  that  doubt,  if  it  is  honest  doubt,  is  nothing 
to  be  ashamed  of.  A  man  ought  not  to  chide 
himself,  and  still  less  ought  others  to  chide  him, 
because  as  yet  he  is  not  able  to  attain  to  a  com- 
plete and  full-orbed  faith.  Doubt  is  nothing  to 
be  ashamed  of,  I  say,  if  it  is  honest  doubt.  And 
the  proviso  is  by  no  means  an  unnecessary  one  ;  for 
all  doubt  is  not  honest.  The  shallow  youth  who 
wanted  to  be  an  agnostic  but  could  never  re- 
member the  word  may  be  only  a  legendary  figure, 
but  he  is  a  worthy  representative  of  the  brainless 
scepticism  which  some  men  to-day  so  lightly 
affect.  Some  are  proud  of  their  doubts  ;  they 
do  not  want  to  get  rid  of  them.  "  He  fought  his 
doubts  and  gathered  strength,"  Tennyson  says  of 
his  hero  ;  but  they  "  fight  their  doubts  "  !  Never  ; 
rather  they  will  use  them  to  fight  other  people. 
They  embalm  them  as  industriously  as  the 
Egyptians  of  old  embalmed  their  dead.  They 
will  bring  them  for  show  with  all  the  gleeful  self- 
satisfaction  with  which  a  collector  of  butterflies 
will  show  you  his  collection  ;  and  if,  some  day, 
they  are  able  to  add  a  new  one  to  the  list,  they 
are    proud    as   your    entomologist    when    he    has 


88  A  Yottng  Man  s  Religion 

succeeded  in  capturing  some  new  specimen  for  his 
little  museum.  It  is  useless  to  argue  with  men 
like  these  ;  you  only  waste  your  breath.  What 
is  wanted  is  rather  the  rude,  strong  hand  of  the 
satirist  who  shall  shake  and  scatter  the  puff-ball 
of  their  vain  conceit. 

And  some  there  are  who  can  sink  to  an  even 
lower  deep  than  this.  They  will  chatter  to  you 
by  the  hour  about  the  "  intellectual  difficulties " 
of  religion,  when,  if  they  would  speak  the  plain 
truth,  the  real  difficulty  is  the  moral  restraint 
which  Christianity  puts  about  a  man's  life.  I 
have  heard  of  an  Indian  army  official,  w^hose  life 
was  flagrantly,  notoriously  immoral,  who  talked 
in  this  light  and  airy  fashion  to  the  chaplain  of  his 
regiment  :  "  Look  at  the  difficulties,"  he  said, 
"  how  can  a  thinking  man  accept  your  creed  ? " 
At  last  the  chaplain  could  restrain  himself  no 
longer  :  "  Difficulties  }  "  he  retorted,  "  Yes,  I  sup- 
pose there  are ;  the  seventh  commandment  is 
plain  enough,  anyhow."  So  was  the  fool  answered 
according  to  his  folly.  And  for  all  such  there  is 
no  other  answer  even  from  the  lips  of  God 
Himself 

But,  I  repeat,  if  a  man's  doubts  are  honest,  he 
has  no  need  to  be  ashamed  of  them.  They  are 
the  "  growing  pains "  of  the  mental  life.  They 
mark  the  stages  by  which  almost  every  healthy 
active  mind  must  pass  on  its  way  to  a  settled 
faith.  I  am  told  that  in  one  of  the  large  Public 
Schools  of  England  these  symptoms  of  unrest  and 


Difficulties  about  Religion  89 

disturbance  in  the  minds  of  some  of  the  older  and 
more  serious-minded  of  the  scholars  are  now  so 
thoroughly  understood  that  the  masters  playfully 
speak  of  the  trouble  as  "  the  measles,"  because 
they  know  that  this  kind  of  intellectual  unsettle- 
ness  is  as  sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  overtake  their 
pupils,  as  every  mother  supposes  the  familiar 
physical  ailment  is  to  befall  her  child. 

"  Doubt,"  some  one  has  finely  said,  "  is  faith  in 
the  making."  It  is  the  sign  of  life,  of  move- 
ment ;  it  may  be  of  movement,  irregular  and 
uncontrolled,  but  anything  is  better  than  the 
stillness  and  stagnation  of  death.  It  is  the  mark 
of  an  awakening  mind  ;  and,  remember,  religion 
never  fears  that.  What  religion  does  fear,  what 
is  religion's  greatest  foe,  is  the  sleep  of  indifference 
— the  indifference  that  knows  not  and  cares  not, 
and  will  not  think  enough  even  to  be  sceptical. 
Therefore,  once  again  I  say,  do  not  fear  because 
you  doubt. 

II 

Turning  now  to  some  of  the  difficulties  of 
which  such  doubt  is  often  born,  it  may  be  con- 
venient to  adopt  a  simple  threefold  classification. 
(i)  There  are  some  difficulties  which  are  in- 
evitable, and  which  we  ought  to  expect.  Con- 
sider for  a  moment  what  is  the  subject-matter  of 
religion  :  God  and  man.  Think  what  God  is ; 
think  what  man  is  ;  and  then  ask  yourself,  Is  it 
any  marvel,  if  when   He,  being  what   He  is,  speak 


90  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

to  me,  being  what  I  am,  concerning  Himself  and 
myself,  that  I  am  not  able  to  comprehend  all  that 
He  saith  ?  Would  not  the  marvel  rather  be  if  it 
were  otherwise  ?  Did  you  ever  try  to  explain  to 
a  little  child  the  truth  concerning  some  matter  far 
too  big  for  its  tiny  grasp  ?  Then  I  think  you 
will  be  able  to  understand  —  I  say  it  with  all 
reverence — God's  difficulty,  when  He  whose  ways 
and  whose  thoughts  are  above  ours  as  the  heavens 
are  above  the  earth,  seeks  to  make  plain  to  us 
His  truth.  Difficulties  in  religion  a  reason  for 
rejecting  it  ?  I  would  rather  say  that  the  Christian 
religion  could  not  be  the  true  religion  if  it  were 
not  sometimes,  and  for  some,  a  difficult  religion. 

Every  one,  I  suppose,  must  have  felt  at  some 
time  or  other  the  difficulty  of  harmonizing  com- 
pletely the  fourfold  narrative  of  the  Gospels. 
Now  this  is  an  exact  illustration  of  difficulties 
which  are  inevitable,  inherent  in  the  very  form  in 
which  the  Divine  revelation  has  come  to  us. 
Christianity  is  a  historical  religion  ;  that  is  to 
say,  it  sets  before  us  not  only  certain  great  laws 
and  principles,  but  also  certain  great  facts  and 
events,  and  upon  these  it  rests.  But  now,  as  has 
been  pointed  out,  the  moment  a  religion  becomes 
a  historical  religion  it  takes  upon  itself  all  the 
difficulties  of  history,  and  how  exceedingly  curious 
and  perplexing  these  sometimes  are  every  one 
who  has  read  twenty  pages  of  history  knows  full 
well.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  for  example,  that 
on  the  1 8th  of  June,  1815,  there  was  fought  the 


Difficulties  about  Religion  91 

great  battle  of  Waterloo.  Yet,  though  there 
were  some  150,000  present  on  the  field  of 
combat,  the  exact  hour  at  which  the  battle  began 
was  for  long  a  disputed  point  among  military 
historians.  "The  Duke  of  Wellington  puts  it 
at  ten  o'clock,  General  Alava  says  half- past 
eleven,  Napoleon  and  Drouet  say  twelve  o'clock, 
and  Ney  one  o'clock."  Now,  what  would  you 
think  of  my  logic,  or  my  common-sense,  if,  basing 
my  argument  on  little  discrepancies  of  this  kind, 
I  were  forthwith  to  proceed  to  argue,  "  Therefore 
the  battle  of  Waterloo  was  never  fought  at  all  "  ? 
And  yet  this  is  precisely  how  men  have  dealt 
with  the  Four  Gospels.  They  have  taken,  e.g. 
the  various  accounts  which  we  possess  of  our 
Lord's  appearances  to  His  disciples  and  others, 
after  His  resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  because 
they  have  been  unable  to  piece  these  together  so 
as  to  form  one  perfect,  chronological  whole,  they 
have  gone  on  to  discredit  the  whole  narrative  and 
to  deny  that  Christ  did  rise  again.  Indeed,  Arch- 
bishop Whately  once  undertook  to  show  that,  on 
the  same  principles  by  which  some  writers  have 
endeavoured  to  invalidate  the  historical  trust- 
worthiness of  the  Four  Gospels,  a  very  good 
case  could  be  made  out  for  believing  that  even 
Napoleon  Buonaparte  himself,  the  most  con- 
spicuous figure  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  as  a  matter  of  fact  never  existed  at  all  ! 

Therefore   I   say — to  sum  up  and   to  repeat — 
Christianity  being  what  it  is,  coming  to  us  in  the 


92  A  Young  Man  s  Religion 

form  in  which  it  has  pleased  God  that  it  should 
come  to  us,  none  but  the  most  unreasonable 
would  expect  to  find  it  free  from  difficulties  of 
every  sort. 

(2)  Other  difficulties  there  are — and  these  I 
put  into  the  second  class — which  we  ought  to  be 
able  to  deal  with,  and  to  set  upon  one  side  our- 
selves. They  have  arisen  in  many  and  very 
different  ways  : — 

{a)  We  ourselves,  it  may  be,  are  naturally  of 
delicate,  refined  susceptibilities.  Coarseness  and 
vulgarity  we  shrink  from,  as  we  shrink  from  a 
blow.  And  it  may  have  been  our  misfortune  to 
have  had  religion  presented  to  us  by  persons  of 
an  exactly  opposite  temperament  ;  so  that  when  we 
were  willing  to  be  won,  we  were  rather  repelled. 
It  may  have  been  some  sensation-monger  in  the 
pulpit,  dealing  out  the  wares  of  salvation  in  the 
fashion  of  a  cheap-jack  ;  or  it  may  have  been  some 
earnest  but  coarse-fingered  disciple,  who  tossed 
sacred  subjects  hither  and  thither,  with  as  little  re- 
verence as  a  man  might  handle  a  sack  of  potatoes. 
And  so,  because  religion  came  to  us  without  any 
kind  of  commendation  from  those  who  first  pre- 
sented it  to  us,  we  turned  away  from  it,  and  would 
have  none  of  it.  We  would  not  touch  the  precious 
wine  of  truth,  because  of  the  coarse  earthenware 
vessel  that  held  it. 

{b)  Or,  it  may  be,  we  have  been  led  to  believe 
that  Christianity  stands  or  falls  with  some  parti- 
cular theory  or  doctrine,  which  (whatever  it  may 


Diffiadties  about  Religion  93 

be  to  others)  is  to  us  incredible,  unthinkable  even. 
Thus,  e.g.,  there  have  been  "  explanations  "  of  the 
great  fact  of  the  Atonement  which  explain  nothing 
to  us,  but  rather  make  the  darkness  deeper  ;  there 
have  been  doctrines  of  future  torment  against 
which  our  moral  sense  utterly  revolts  ;  and  yet 
we  have  been  told  both  were  essential  to  the  true 
faith  of  a  Christian.  I  have,  among  my  books,  a 
volume  written  by  a  very  clever  man,  which  is  one 
long  and  bitter  attack  upon  Christianity,  and  which 
rests  throughout  upon  a  series  of  gigantic  mis- 
apprehensions of  that  kind.  When  the  writer  had 
finished  his  book  and  put  down  his  pen,  he  flattered 
himself,  I  doubt  not,  that  he  had  overturned  Chris- 
tianity. Well,  he  had  overturned  something,  but 
assuredly  it  was  not  Christianity  ;  rather  it  was  a 
kind  of  straw  man,  which  he,  with  two  or  three 
others  to  help  him,  had  diligently  stuffed,  and  then 
labelled  with  the  Christian  name.  But  of  the 
Christianity  of  Christ  and  of  the  New  Testament 
he  seems  never  to  have  had  so  much  as  a  glimpse. 
And,  of  course,  religion  will  always  present  diffi- 
culties to  the  man  who  will  not  take  the  trouble 
to  understand  it. 

{c)  Or,  again,  it  may  be,  we  are  in  difficulties 
about  religion,  because,  while  we  have  intelligence 
enough  to  feel  the  force  of  hostile  criticisms  of  our 
faith,  we  have  never  used  that  same  intelligence 
to  learn  the  strength  of  the  granite  foundations 
on  which  that  faith  rests.  Concerning  all  other 
matters  that  interest  us,  we  are  unsatisfied  until 


94  ^  Young  Mans  Religio7i 

we  can  be  clear,  logical,  definite — able  to  give  to 
all  that  ask  a  reason  for  the  faith  we  hold.  It  is 
only  in  religion  that  we  are  content  to  be  vague, 
and  misty,  and  uncertain.  And  one  day  we  paid 
the  penalty.  It  was  only  a  book  that  some  one 
lent  us,  or  a  magazine  article,  or  a  chance  word 
dropped  by  a  friend,  but  it  was  enough  ;  our  house 
was  built  upon  the  sand,  and  at  the  first  touch  of 
reality  it  fell  like  a  house  of  cards  ;  and  from  that 
day  to  this  we  have  known  scarce  an  hour's  peace 
in  thinking  about  religion. 

These  are  examples,  taken  almost  at  random, 
of  a  class  of  religious  difficulties,  the  remedy  for 
which  lies  in  our  own  hands  ;  for,  to  speak  plainly, 
they  spring  from  ignorance,  ignorance  of  what 
Christianity  is,  ignorance  of  what  Christ  and  His 
Apostles  really  taught  ;  and  it  is  by  knowledge, 
the  knowledge  of  these  things,  that  they  must  be 
cast  out.  Men  speak  sometimes  as  if  all  our  in- 
tellectual troubles  in  religion  begin  when  we  begin 
to  think  for  ourselves.  There  is  a  grain  of  truth 
in  that,  but  there  is  a  bushel  in  this  :  that  if  we 
would  think  more,  many  of  our  difficulties  would 
come  to  an  end.  They  spring  from  too  little 
thought ;  and  the  cure  for  them  is  more  thought. 
"  Now  these  [of  Bera^a],"  we  read,  "  were  more 
noble  than  those  in  Thessalonica,  in  that  they 
received  the  word  with  all  readiness  of  mind, 
examining  the  scriptures  daily,  whether  these 
things  were  so.  Many  of  them  therefore  believed." 
Do   you    mark    that    "  therefore  "  .?      They   "  ex- 


Diffiadties  about  Religion  95 


amined,"  therefore  they  believed.  And  I  say  to 
you  that  if,  instead  of  accepting  as  true  every 
miserable  travesty  of  our  faith  which  ignorance 
or  unbelief  sets  before  us,  we  will  search  for  our- 
selves whether  these  things  be  so,  we,  too,  like  the 
Beraeans  of  old,  shall  win  our  way  to  a  wise  and 
rational  faith — we  shall  find  our  doubts  to  vanish 
like  evil  dreams  when  one  awaketh. 

(3)   A   third    and   final  set    of   difficulties   still 
remains   to   be   spoken   of:    I  mean   those   which 
rise  from  what  (for  lack  of  a  better  term)  I  may 
call   the   scientific  spirit  of  our   time.      Over  and 
above  the  unsettlement  consequent  upon  the  re- 
statement and  readjustment   of  Christian  doctrine 
which  modern  science  has  rendered  necessary,  the 
general    habits    of    mind,    the    whole    intellectual 
temper  produced   by  that  widespread   diffusion  of 
scientific   knowledge,   which    is    itself  one   of  the 
most  remarkable  features  of  the  intellectual  life  of 
our  country  during  the  last  fifty  years,  have  made 
increasingly  difficult  for   many  faith  in   what  we 
call   the   "supernatural."      We   have   come,   often 
without    realizing    it,  to    demand   in    religion    the 
same  methods  of  proof,  the  same  kind  of  certainty, 
that   we  have   grown  accustomed  to   in   science  ; 
and  when  these  are  not  to  be  had,  we  think  our 
doubt  is  justified.      Every  one  has   heard,  e.g.,  of 
Professor  Tyndall's  famous  "  prayer  test."      "  You 
believe    in    prayer,"    such   in    substance   was   the 
Professor's  challenge  to  the   religious  world  ;  "  I 
don't.     Let  us  put  the  matter  to  the  test."      And 


96  A  Yoitng  Mails  Religion 

he  went  on  to  suggest  that  a  number  of  patients 
in  a  hospital  should  be  separated  from  the  rest, 
and  should  be  made  the  subjects  of  special  in- 
tercessory prayer,  their  treatment,  meanwhile, 
remaining  the  same  as  usual.  Then,  said  the 
Professor,  we  will  see  who  gets  well  first,  the 
patients  who  are  prayed  for,  or  the  patients  for 
whom  nobody  prays.  And  the  good  man  thought 
he  could  experiment  with  prayer  as  he  might  have 
experimented  with  some  new  cure  for  cancer  or 
consumption  !  And  there  are  not  a  few  to-day 
who,  though  they  have  never  been  through  Pro- 
fessor Tyndall's  scientific  "  drill,"  are  nevertheless 
tainted  with  the  same  spirit.  "  Seeing  is  believ- 
ing," they  say ;  and  where  they  cannot  "  see," 
they  think  they  are  justified  in  refusing  to  believe. 
"  Prove  to  us,"  they  will  say  to  you  with  brave 
logical  show,  "  Prove  to  us  that  there  is  a  God  ; 
prove  to  us  that  there  is  a  conscious  life  beyond 
the  grave,  and  we  will  believe  "  ;  until  you  almost 
feel  as  if  you  were  expected  to  take  your  pencil 
and  paper,  and  work  it  all  out  like  a  mathematical 
proposition,  down  to  the  triumphant  Q.E.D.  at 
the  bottom. 

But  surely,  if  there  is  one  error  from  which 
modern  science  itself  ought  to  have  saved  us,  it  is 
the  error  of  supposing  that  the  non-apparent, 
that  of  which  our  five  senses  can  tell  us  nothing, 
is  therefore  the  non-existent.  Sir  John  Lubbock 
tells  us  that  when  the  vibrations  of  air-producing 
sound    read    40,000    a   second,  they   become   in- 


Diffictilties  about  Religion  97 

audible  to  us  ;  and  the  40,000  must  grow  to  400 
millions  of  millions  before,  as  they  strike  the 
retina,  they  produce  the  sensation  of  red.  But 
now,  obviously,  between  these  two  so  widely 
separated  limits,  any  number  of  sensations  may 
exist,  of  which  we  know  nothing,  because  we  have 
no  sense-organ  capable  of  receiving  them.  And 
yet  it  is  man,  thus  bounded  and  limited,  who 
dares  to  make  himself  the  measure  of  all  that  is  ! 
We  are  like  dwellers  in  a  blind  tower,  pierced  by 
five  tiny  lancet  windows,  which  we  call  the  five 
senses  ;  and  some  of  us  are  so  foolish  and  ignorant, 
that  we  think  God's  great  outside  universe  can  be 
no  bigger  than  just  that  bit  of  it  which  we  can 
see  through  our  little  lancet  windows. 

Ay,  and  though  thy  glance  be  never  so  keen, 
"  canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God  ?  "  Mere 
cleverness  can  never  climb  the  heavens  and  bring 
God  down.  The  astronomer  sweeps  the  sky  with 
his  telescope  and  says,  "  No  God  !  No  God ! " 
Well,  but  what  if  you  want  a  different  instrument 
to  find  out  God  ?  The  mighty  brain,  the  wonder- 
ful method,  the  all-powerful  instrument  that  seems 
to  be  able  to  wrest  their  secrets  from  the  furthest 
heavens,  they  are  no  use  here.  Spiritual  things 
are  "  spiritually  discerned  "  ;  he  that  willeth  to  do 
the  will  of  God — he  shall  know  ;  the  pure  in 
heart  see.  And  so  it  may  come  to  pass,  as  was 
spoken  by  the  Master,  that  the  things  which  are 
hidden  from  the  wise  and  prudent  are  revealed 
unto   babes,   and    the   humblest    saint    upon    his 

H 


98  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

knees  can   see  further  than  the  scientist  on  tip- 
toe. 

Ill 

The  difficulties  of  behef — but  what  about  the 
difficulties  of  unbelief?  The  choice  does  not  lie 
between  a  rough  road  and  a  smooth  one,  a  tangled 
thicket  and  a  level  greensward.  A  man  may  give 
up  religion,  and  imagine  that  thereby  he  is  going 
to  escape  all  his  intellectual  puzzles,  that  hence- 
forth life  for  him  is  to  be  pleasant  sailing  in  quiet 
waters  ;  but  if  he  be  an  honest  man,  he  will  soon 
discover  that,  instead  of  being  at  the  end,  he  is 
only  at  the  beginning  of  his  difficulties.  For, 
whatever  he  may  think  of  Christianity,  and  what- 
ever may  be  his  relation  towards  it,  there  are 
certain  facts  which  remain,  and  have  in  some  way 
or  other  to  be  explained.  The  Bible — what  it  is, 
how  it  came  to  be  what  it  is,  and  to  do  what  it 
has  done ;  Christ — His  place  in  man's  life.  His 
kingship  over  man's  heart ;  the  Church  of  Christ 
— the  love,  the  service,  the  devotion  of  the  genera- 
tions that  have  sheltered  within  its  fold — these  are 
facts,  facts  that  have  no  parallel  in  human  history, 
and  facts  that,  I  repeat,  must  be  explained.  We 
may  reject  one  explanation,  the  Christian  ;  we 
have  still  to  find  another — and  a  truer.  Hard  to 
believe?  Yes,  it  may  be,  but  it  is  harder,  far 
harder,  to  disbelieve. 

And  if  many  things  are  dark  and  uncertain, 
many  things  are  clear  and   certain,   and  we   can 


Difficulties  about  Religion  99 

begin  there.  Sin — I  did  not  need  to  read  the 
Bible  to  learn  of  that ;  I  have  only  to  shut  my 
eyes,  and  read  my  own  heart,  and  I  know  more 
than  enough.  The  consequences  of  sin — the 
smarting  memory,  the  seared  conscience,  the 
weakened  will :  who  does  not  know  these  things  ? 
And  the  offer  of  Christ  to  save  us  from  our  sin, 
and  the  consequences  of  our  sin — thank  God  that 
is  real,  too.  Do  we  hesitate  ?  Then  let  us  hear 
the  sixty  generations  of  saints,  who  tell  us,  as 
with  one  voice,  that  what  Christ  promises  He  is 
able  to  perform.  Why  not  put  Him  to  the  test? 
Your  difficulties — what  shall  you  do  with  them  ? 
Bring  them  along  with  you,  and  I  promise  you — 
I  speak  of  what  I  know — they  shall  never  look 
so  small,  or  seem  so  insignificant,  as  when  you 
try  to  read  them  over  again  in  the  light  that  falls 
from  His  pure  presence.  Pray  ;  do  not  wait  till 
reason  says  you  may — "  the  heart  has  reasons 
that  the  reason  knows  not  of" — pray,  and  as 
you  pray,  God  shall  grant  you  the  peace  of 
deliverance. 


'  I  have  a  life  with  Christ  to  live, 
But,  ere  I  live  it,  must  I  wait 
Till  learning  can  clear  answer  give 
Of  this  and  that  book's  date  ? 


I  have  a  life  in  Christ  to  live, 
I  have  a  death  in  Christ  to  die  ; 
And  must  I  wait  till  science  give 
All  doubts  a  full  reply  ? 


lOO  A  Young  Man  s  Religion 

"  Nay,  rather,  while  the  sea  of  doubt 
Is  raging  wildly  round  about, 
Questioning  of  life  and  death  and  sin, 

Let  me  but  creep  within 
Thy  fold,  O  Christ,  and  at  Thy  feet. 

Take  but  the  lowest  seat. 
And  hear  Thine  awful  voice  repeat 
In  gentlest  accents,  heavenly  sweet ; 

'  Come  unto  Me,  and  rest ; 

Believe  Me,  and  be  blest'  " 

Young  men,  whatever  else  is  dark,  it  must  be 
right  to  follow  Christ. 


WHAT    SOME    MEN    MAKE   OF 
RELIGION 


^^  If  we  would  learn  what  St.  Paul  held  to  be  the  essence  of  the 
Gospel,  we  must  ask  ourselves  what  is  the  significance  of  such  phrases 
as,  '  I  desire  you  in  the  heart  of  Jesus  Christ,^  *  To  me  to  live  is 
Christ,^  *  That  I  may  know  the  power  of  Christ's  resurrection,'  */ 
have  all  strength  in  Christ  that  giveth  me  power.''  Thotigh  the 
Gospel  is  capable  of  doctrinal  exposition,  though  it  is  emiftently  fertile 
in  moral  results,  yet  its  substance  is  neither  a  dogmatic  system  nor  an 
ethical  code,  but  a  Person  and  a  Zz/^."— Bishop  Lightfoot. 


VII 

WHAT    SOME    MEN    MAKE    OF 
RELIGION 

IN  Robert  Louis  Stevenson's  well-known  essay 
on  Robert  Burns,  there  is  this  striking  and 
suggestive  saying  :  "  Burns,"  says  Stevenson,  "  was 
not  devoted  to  religion,  but  haunted  by  it."  With 
the  truth  of  this  as  a  criticism  of  our  great  Scot- 
tish poet,  I  have  just  now  nothing  to  do  ;  but  as 
a  description  of  the  relation  in  which  multitudes 
to-day  stand  to  religion,  it  appears  to  me  to  be 
well-nigh  perfect.  There  are  some — like  General 
Gordon,  e.g. — to  whom  their  religion  is  the  greatest 
thing  in  life  ;  it  gives  form  and  colour  to  all  they 
think  and  do  and  say,  it  is  about  them  like  an 
atmosphere,  in  it  they  live  and  move  and  have 
their  being,  it  is  for  them  the  one  great  reality 
in  a  world  of  shadows.  And,  on  the  other  hand, 
separated  from  these  by  a  whole  diameter,  there 
are  those  to  whom  religion  is  nothing.  They 
have  looked  upon  it  only  to  turn  away,  it  may  be 
in   sadness,  it   may  be   in  scorn.      Or,   perchance. 


1 04  A  Yo2tng  Mans  Religion 

the  god  of  this  world  has  so  blinded  their  eyes 
and  hardened  their  hearts,  that  religion  makes  to 
them  no  appeal,  wakens  within  them  no  re- 
sponsive echo.  Religion  for  them  does  not  rank 
even  among  the  lesser  motives  of  life. 

But  now,  between  these  two  widely  separated 
classes  lies  a  third  great  middle-class  ;  I  mean 
those  whose  lives,  though  not  moulded  by  religion, 
are  yet  touched  by  it.  In  spite  of  themselves, 
perhaps,  they  have  never  been  able  to  cut  them- 
selves free  from  it.  It  exists,  so  to  speak,  only  in 
the  nooks  and  crannies  of  their  nature  ;  neverthe- 
less, it  is  there.  A  power  it  can  hardly  be  called, 
so  inconstant,  so  uncertain,  so  indeterminate  is 
its  influence  ;  nevertheless,  it  is  there,  a  name,  a 
restraint,  a  dim,  half-forgotten  ideal,  and  therefore 
not  wholly  powerless. 

Does  not  this  describe,  albeit  in  very  blunder- 
ing fashion,  what  religion  is  to  many  of  us  ?  We 
are  not  Christians  (not,  at  least  in  any  true  and 
worthy  sense  of  the  word — Christians  by  definite 
decision  and  conviction),  and  yet  religion  has  a 
held  upon  us.  We  join  with  them  that  worship 
in  God's  house  ;  we  "  say  our  prayers "  morning 
and  evening ;  no  one  ever  heard  us  make  a 
mock  of  sacred  things  ;  nay,  indeed,  we  have  for 
religion  a  kind  of  reverent  and  awestruck  admira- 
tion ;  we  have  even  been  known  to  argue  in  its 
defence,  and  to  write  essays  in  its  exposition. 
All  this,  and  very  much  more  than  this,  we  do 
while  yet  we  remain  strangers  to  the  power  and 


What  some  Men  make  of  Religion     105 

blessedness  of  the  Christian  faith.  Like  Burns, 
we  are  not  devoted  to  religion,  but  haunted  by  it. 
It  does  not  rule  us,  but  we  cannot  get  quit  of  it. 
It  is  a  presence  that  will  not  be  put  by,  and  yet 
it  is  rather  a  spectre  that  haunts  our  life  than  an 
angel  to  bless  it  and  to  redeem  it  from  all  evil. 

Why  is  this  ?  There  are  of  course  many  an- 
swers ;  but  one  explanation  is  this  :  we  misunder- 
stand religion,  we  do  not  think  of  it  as  Christ 
meant  us  to  think  of  it,  we  make  of  it  something 
other  than  it  really  is.  And  my  aim  at  this 
moment  is  to  remove,  if  possible,  some  of  these 
misconceptions  and  to  help  some  one  to  a  better 
understanding  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  At 
a  meeting  of  young  men  in  Exeter  Hall  some 
few  years  ago,  one  of  the  speakers  took  these 
three  points  as  the  pegs  of  his  address  : — 

(i)  Religion  an  experience,  not  a  creed. 

(2)  Religion  an  inspiration,  not  a  restraint. 

(3)  Religion  a  programme  for  the  present  life, 

not  an  insurance  for  the  future. 
With  certain  modifications  of  phraseology,  which 
I  will  make  as  I  proceed,  I  do  not  know  that 
I  can  do  better  than  boldly  adopt  this  triple 
definition  for  my  own  immediate  purpose  of 
exposition  and  appeal. 


Religion  an  experience  and  not  a  creed ;  or,  as  I 
should  prefer  to  say,  religion  is  first  an  experience 
and  afterwards  a  creed. 


io6  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  commoner  or  more 
mischievous  misconception  of  Christianity  than 
that  which  represents  it  as  seeking  to  impose 
upon  those  who  would  be  its  disciples  the  in- 
tolerable burden  of  a  difficult  creed.  If  I  rightly 
interpret  the  minds  of  young  men  who  have 
spoken  to  me  on  this  matter,  they  have  come  to 
think  of  the  door  of  the  Christian  Church  as 
jealously  guarded  by  some  high  ecclesiastical 
official  robed  with  authority  to  refuse  admission 
to  all  who  are  not  prepared  to  put  their  names  at 
the  foot  of  some  mysterious  theological  document, 
the  very  meaning  of  which  they  do  not  half  under- 
stand. Henry  Drummond  has  told  us,  in  one  of  his 
books,  of  an  interview  he  once  had  with  a  certain 
foreign  professor.  "  I  used  to  be  concerned 
about  religion,"  said  the  professor  in  substance, 
"but  religion  is  a  great  subject.  I  was  very 
busy  ;  there  was  little  time  to  settle  it  for  myself. 
A  Protestant,  my  attention  was  called  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion.  It  suited  my  case. 
And  instead  of  dabbling  in  religion  for  myself, 
I  put  myself  in  its  hands.  Once  a  year,"  he 
concluded,  "  I  go  to  mass." 

"  Religion  is  a  great  subject ;  I  have  no  time 
and  no  ability  to  think  out  its  great  questions 
for  myself" — that  in  substance  is  the  excuse  of 
multitudes  to-day;  and  as  they  are  not  all 
prepared,  as  Drummond's  professor  was,  to  be 
religious  by  proxy,  they  solve  the  difficulty  by 
turning  away  from  religion  altogether.      Cases  of 


What  so7ne  Men  make  of  Religio7i     107 

this  kind  are  probably  much  more  frequent  than 
those  who  have  had  Httle  practical  experience  in 
religious  work  may  suppose.  I  remember — and 
the  case  is  typical  of  many — waiting  at  the  close 
of  a  Sunday  evening  service  to  speak  with  three 
or  four  young  men  who  were  desirous  for  an 
opportunity  of  conversation  about  religious  matters. 
We  had  not  been  talking  many  minutes  before 
one  of  them  pulled  out  his  Bible,  and,  turning  to 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  (it  is  astonishing  how 
many  people  stick  there  !),  read  something  from  it 
and  asked  me  what  it  meant.  I  said  a  word  or 
two  by  way  of  explanation.  "  Thank  you,"  he 
replied  ;  "  and  what,"  he  went  on  reading  another 
verse,  "  does  this  mean  ?  "  Then  I  began  to  see 
where  we  were  and  where  we  were  likely  to  be. 
The  young  fellow's  mind  was  stored  with  little 
intellectual  puzzles,  and  he  imagined  they  must  all 
be  solved  to  his  complete  satisfaction,  or  religion 
was  not  for  him.  And  so,  by  reason  of  this  un- 
happy misapprehension,  that  in  order  to  be  a 
Christian  a  man  must  first  understand  and  receive 
all  the  truths  of  Divine  revelation  and  all  the 
facts  which  constitute  its  historical  framework, 
many  are  keeping  from  themselves  God's  free  gift 
of  salvation  in  Christ. 

And  surely  it  is  a  misunderstanding.  A  man 
may  eat  and  benefit  by  his  dinner  who  never 
looked  inside  a  cookery-book,  and  who  knows 
nothing  whatever  of  the  physiological  processes 
involved   in  eating  and   drinking.       He  may   run 


1 08  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

and  win  a  race  though  he  cannot  tell  the  name 
of  a  single  bone  or  muscle  that  the  exercise 
has  called  into  use.  And  it  is  not  necessary, 
however  desirable  on  other  grounds  it  may  be, 
that  a  man  should  set  himself  to  master  even  the 
most  elementary  text -book  on  theology  before 
he  receives  what  Christ  waits  to  bestow.  It  is 
related  of  a  preacher,  once  famous  for  his  quaint- 
ness  in  the  pulpit,  that  on  one  occasion  having 
quoted  Paul's  words,  "  Great  is  the  mystery  of 
godliness,"  and  seeking  to  make  plain  that  what- 
ever theoretical  difficulties  there  might  be  about 
religion,  these  were  no  sufficient  reason  why  a 
man  should  not  enjoy  the  practical  good  of  it, 
suddenly  he  seized  the  glass  of  water  that  stood 
in  the  pulpit  by  his  side  ;  "  Great  is  the  mystery 
of  water,"  he  cried,  and  launched  into  a  talk 
about  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  the  proportions  in 
which  they  combine  to  produce  water  and  so 
forth  :  "  Great  is  the  mystery  of  water,  neverthe- 
less," he  added  with  a  merry  twinkle,  and  suiting 
the  action  to  the  word,  "  nevertheless  we'll  take  a 
drink  ! " 

How  comes  the  sunlight?  As  a  puzzle  in 
solar  physics  ?  No  ;  but  to  warm  and  cheer  and 
gladden  our  lives.  And  God  Himself  comes  not 
to  vex  our  souls  with  huge  conundrums,  but  with 
the  offer  of  life  to  them  that  are  "  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sins."  Let  us  make  the  life  our  own, 
the  science  of  the  life  we  can  discuss  afterwards 
at  our  leisure.      Nor  is  there  in  this  any  deprecia- 


What  some  Men  77iake  of  Religion      109 

tion,  implicit  or  otherwise,  of  the  value  of  creeds 
and  doctrinal  statements.  But  let  any  one  read 
the  New  Testament,  and  especially  the  story 
of  the  first  disciples  and  the  early  Christian 
Church,  and  then  say  if  this  is  not  always  the 
order  :  first,  the  new  life,  the  experience,  then  the 
creed  ;  first,  the  facts,  then  the  explanation,  the 
philosophy  of  the  facts.  Let  us  take  care  that 
we  keep  to  God's  order.  Do  not  put  ABC 
where  He  puts  XYZ.  Begin  where  He  begins  ; 
then  all  will  be  well.  The  Gospel,  I  repeat,  is 
not  a  set  of  opinions  on  a  number  of  more  or 
less  difficult  questions,  on  which  you  also  are 
asked  your  opinion.  It  is  God's  remedy  for  man's 
deepest,  direst,  sorest  need.  Have  you  felt  the 
need?  If  you  have,  go  to  Him  for  the  remedy. 
The  rest  can  wait. 


II 

Religion  an  Inspiration^  not  a  Restraint. — 
Speaking  of  the  sudden  change  in  the  early 
religious  opinions  of  George  Eliot,  Mr.  R.  H. 
Hutton  says  that  to  him  the  remarkable  point  is 
that  George  Eliot  felt  herself  relieved  of  a  burden 
rather  than  robbed  of  a  great  spiritual  mainstay 
by  the  change.  And  is  it  not  thus  that  many 
have  come  to  think  of  religion  ?  To  them  it  is  a 
kill-joy,  a  skeleton  at  the  feast  of  life,  a  nagging 
monitor  at  one's  elbow,  a  kind  of  incarnate 
"  Don't."      Its  chief  business,  they  think,  is  to  tell 


no  A  Young  Ma7i  s  Religion 

men  and  women  what  they  must  not  do.  To  be 
religious  is,  in  their  eyes,  to  give  up  this,  that,  or 
the  other ;  it  is  to  Hmit  and  narrow  yourself,  to 
hack  and  hew  until  the  wide  -  spreading,  full- 
branched  tree  of  your  life  is  cut  down  to  a  bare 
stump.  Our  religious  ideals,  they  say,  are  lean 
and  starved ;  they  lack  fulness,  breadth,  and 
variety.  And  religious  people  are  of  all  men 
most  to  be  pitied,  for  they  dare  not  do  the  things 
they  would,  the  things  they  ought  to  be  free  to  do. 

So  it  is  said.  But  now  1  ask  you  to  tell  me, 
with  the  New  Testament  in  your  hand,  if  this  is 
not  a  miserable  travesty  of  religion.  True  reli- 
gion makes  a  man  not  less  of  a  man  but  more  of 
a  man.  It  means  not  the  pushing  in  of  the  stops 
and  the  shutting  off  of  the  music,  but  the  drawing 
out  of  every  stop  that  the  music  may  swell  forth 
in  all  its  rich  and  full -voiced  harmonies.  "  I 
-^   ^  look,"  says  Martin   Luther,  "  for  the  symbol  of  my 

theology,  a  seal  on  which  I  had  engraven  a  cross, 
with  a  heart  in  its  centre  ;  the  cross  is  black  to 
indicate  the  sorrows,  even  unto  death,  through 
which  the  Christian  must  pass,  but  the  heart 
preserves  its  natural  colour,  for  the  Cross  does 
not  extinguish  nature,  it  does  not  kill,  but  gives 
life."  God,  it  has  been  well  said,  is  not  by  grace 
going  to  undo  His  work  by  nature  ;  religion  in- 
tensifies the  natural  man. 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  is  not  the  New  Testa- 
ment full  of  the  doctrine  of  self-denial,  self- 
repression  ?      Did  not  Christ  Himself  say,  "  Who- 


What  some  Men  7nake  of  Religion     1 1 1 

soever  he  be  of  you  that  renounceth  not  all  that 
he  hath,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple  "  ?  But  let  us 
take  care  that  we  rightly  understand  this  matter. 
The  New  Testament  never  inculcates  self-denial 
for  its  own  sake,  and  as  an  end  in  itself.  "  Every 
branch,"  said  Christ,  "  that  beareth  fruit  He 
cleanseth — pruneth — it,"  why  ?  "  that  it  may  bear 
more  fruit."  God's  aim,  in  all  His  dealings  with 
us,  is  not  the  impoverishment  but  the  enrichment 
of  our  life.  And  if  sometimes  He  calls  us  to 
walk  by  the  strait  and  narrow  way  of  self-denial, 
it  is  only  in  order  that  thereby  He  may  lead  us 
forth  into  a  larger  life.  Indeed,  what  is  this  but 
a  great  law  which  runs  through  all  our  life  ?  If 
we  are  to  win  the  big  prizes  of  life,  we  must  be 
content  to  forego  the  smaller.  If,  in  Bunyan's 
magnificent  allegory,  we  are  to  make  our  own  the 
crown  which  the  angel  offers  to  us,  we  must  turn 
away  from  the  dust  and  sticks  and  straw  of  the 
floor.  Through  all  our  life  the  crowned  are  they 
who  learn  to  scorn  delights  and  live  laborious 
days.  And  that  which  is  true  on  the  lower  levels 
of  life,  is  true  also  on  its  highest.  All  Christ's 
restraints,  if  we  understand  them  aright,  are  in- 
spirations. When  He  says,  "  Give  up,"  it  is 
because  He  is  about  to  say  "  Receive  ye."  When 
He  bids  us  empty  our  hands  of  life's  poor  gew- 
gaws that  we  snatch  with  such  frantic  haste, 
it  is  that  He  may  fill  them  with  the  true  riches. 
It  is  more  life  and  fuller  that  we  want  ;  it  is 
more  life  and  fuller  that   He  offers.     "  I   came," 


112  A  Voting  Mans  Religion 

He  said,  "  that  they  may  have  life,  and  may  have 
it  abundantly." 

True,  the  old  passions  and  desires  and  am- 
bitions die  down  and  vanish  away.  But  they 
do  not  leave  the  soul  an  empty  place ;  for  in 
their  stead  there  come  in  troops  of  new  desires, 
new  affections,  and  new  hopes.  The  Christian 
life  is  the  life  of  wide  horizons  and  large  outlooks. 
"  Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  honourable,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  what- 
soever things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are 
lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report" — 
Christ  claims  them  all  for  those  who  are  His. 
Religion  a  "  giving  up  "  ?  Yes  ;  it  is  just  such  a 
giving  up  as  you  may  see  every  springtime,  when 
the  brown  withered  leaves  of  the  beech  hedge- 
rows drop  away,  because  behind,  in  every  twig 
and  branch,  there  is  surging  the  rich,  full  life  of 
the  spring.  Do  not  say  any  more  that  religion 
is  a  restraint ;  it  is  when  we  understand  aright 
the  most  blessed  of  heaven-sent  inspirations. 


Ill 

Religion  a  Programme  for  the  Present  Life, 
not  an  Insurance  for  the  Future.  —  I  confess 
frankly  that  had  I  been  making  my  own  "divi- 
sions," instead  of  borrowing  another  man's,  I 
should  have  worded  this  third  point  somewhat 
differently.  It  is  always  easy,  and  just  now  it 
is  rather  popular,  to  sneer  at  what  we  call  "other- 


What  some  Men  make  of  Religion     113 

worldliness."  Nevertheless, "  other-worldliness  "  has 
a  very  large  place  in  the  New  Testament.  And 
further,  let  me  say,  though  only  by  way  of  paren- 
thesis, that  nothing  is  more  utterly  vain  than  to 
suppose  that  any  religion  will  ever  speak  with 
authority  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  man, 
which  has  no  outlook  into  the  eternal  world. 
Secular  gospels  may  secure  the  suffrage  of  the 
hour,  but  there  can  be  no  lasting  home  for  the 
soul  of  man  in  any  faith  which  is  silent  about 
the  future,  which  in  the  death  -  hour  can  only 
withdraw  helpless  and  dumb. 

Nevertheless,  there  is,  underlying  the  words  I 
have  used,  an  important  truth,  and  one  which 
Christian  men  and  women  have  not  always  fully 
recognized.  Christianity  is,  without  doubt,  a 
programme  for  the  present  life.  And  when  it 
does  lift  our  eyes  to  the  future,  it  is  in  order  that 
thereby  it  may  reinforce  our  sense  of  duty  in  the 
life  that  now  is.  "  Beloved,"  cries  the  Apostle 
John,  "  now  are  we  the  children  of  God,  and  it  is 
not  yet  made  manifest  what  we  shall  be.  We 
know  that,  if  He  shall  be  manifested  we  shall  be 
like  Him  ;  for  we  shall  see  Him  even  as  He  is." 
And  then  from  these  dazzling  heights,  where  our 
thought  fails  like  a  spent  bird,  John  drops  at 
once  to  plain,  practical  duty ;  and  his  next  word 
is  this  :  "  And  every  one  that  hath  this  hope  set 
on  Him  purifieth  himself,  even  as  He  is  pure." 
The  Apostle  would  have  us  pass  from  the  glow 
and  glory   of  the    mount   of  vision    with   a   new 

I 


114  ^  Young  Man  s  Religion. 

heart  for  the  tasks  of  dusty  daily  hfe  en  the  plain 
below.  And  this  is  the  spirit  of  the  whole  Bible. 
Here  and  there,  as  we  turn  its  pages,  we  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  gleaming  spires  of  that  city,  whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God  ;  but,  first  of  all,  it  is  a 
guide  to  the  way  thither.  Once  and  again  we  descry 
through  the  mist  the  desired  haven,  where,  when 
the  shore  is  won  at  last,  the  tired  mariner  will  be 
at  rest  for  evermore  ;  but,  first  of  all,  it  is  a  chart, 
marking  the  rocks,  and  the  reefs,  and  the  sand- 
banks where  the  unwary  may  go  astray  and  be  lost. 
Yes ;  we  cannot  proclaim  it  too  loudly : 
Christianity  is  a  programme  for  the  present  life. 
The  Bible  is  pre-eminently,  though  not  exclusively, 
what  we  call  a  "  practical "  book.  This  is  its 
own  witness  concerning  itself :  it  "  is  profitable  for 
teaching,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction 
which  is  in  righteousness,  that  the  man  of  God 
may  be  complete,  furnished  completely  unto  every 
pfood  work."  And  let  him  who  would  make  the 
best,  alike  for  himself  and  his  fellows,  of  the  life 
that  now  is,  know  that  the  one  sure  means  to 
that  end  is  to  bring  himself  into  fellowship  with 
the  purposes  of  God  revealed  to  us  in  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord. 

I  began  by  telling  you  what  religion  was  to 
one  man  ;  let  me  close  by  reminding  you  what  it 
has  been  to  another  of  our  own  generation.  One 
memorable   month,  two  or  three  years  ago,^  our 

1  Written  in  1900. 


"   What  some  Men  make  of  Religion     1 1 5 

whole  nation  seemed  to  have  gathered,  breathless 
and  expectant,  in  one  sick  -  room,  where  the 
brightest  and  busiest  life  of  the  century  ebbed 
slowly  away.  And  some  of  us,  so  long  as  we 
remember  anything,  will  never  forget  the  quiet 
thrill  of  thankfulness  with  which  we  watched 
the  soul  of  the  dying  statesman  stay  itself,  in 
death  as  in  life,  on  the  old  faith,  uttered  in  the 
old  words, 

"  Jesus,  pro  me  perforatus 
Condar  intra  tuum  latus." 

"  Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me. 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  Thee." 

O  young  men,  you  who  are  beginning  the 
building  of  the  house  of  your  life,  build  on  that 
rock  ;  and  in  the  day  when  the  floods  are  out, 
when  the  rains  descend,  and  the  winds  blow,  your 
house  shall  stand  secure,  because  it  is  founded 
upon  the  rock. 


THE   MORALITY   OF   THE   RELIGIOUS 


^'  I  cannot  away,  saith  the  Lord,  with  wickedness  and  worship.'''* 
— George  Adam  Smith's  Translation  of  Isaiah  i.  13. 

* '  1  stispect  that,  after  all,  there  is  only  one  heresy,  and  that  is 
Antinomiatiism." — John  Duncan's  "  Colloquia  Peripatetica." 

"  There  is  no  strange  self-deceit  more  deeply  and  obstinately  fixed 
in  nien^s  hearts  than  this :  that  those  whom  God  favours  may  take 
liberties  that  others  viay  not ;  that  religious  men  may  venture  more 
safely  to  transgress  than  others  ;  that  good  men  may  allow  themselves 
to  do  wrong  things.  There  is  no  more  certain  fact  in  the  range  of 
human  experiefice  than  that  with  strong  and  earnest  religious  feeling 
there  may  be  a  feeble  and  imperfect  hold  on  the  moj'al  law,  often  a 
very  loose  sense  of  justice,  truth,  purity.'''' — Dean  Church. 


VIII 

THE  MORALITY  OF  THE  RELIGIOUS 

"  /^~\NE  great  defect  of  what  we  call  the  Evan- 
V^  gelical  Revival  consists  in  its  failure  to 
afford  to  those  whom  it  has  restored  to  God  a 
lofty  ideal  of  practical  righteousness,  and  a  healthy, 
vigorous,  moral  training.  The  result  is  lament- 
able. Many  Evangelical  Christians  have  the 
poorest,  meanest,  narrowest  conceptions  of  moral 
duty,  and  are  almost  destitute  of  moral  strength. 
If  this  defect  is  to  be  remedied  we  Evangelicals 
must  think  more  about  Christian  ethics."  ^  These 
are  strong  words ;  but  they  are  the  deliberate 
judgment  of  one  who  was  himself  a  prince  among 
evangelical  teachers  and  preachers,  and  they  may 
well  serve  to  set  us  thinking  on  the  important 
question  which  is  the  subject  of  this  chapter. 


And,   at   the   outset,  let   me   remind   you   that 
Christianity  is,  in  the   long  run,  simply  a  method 

1  Dr.  Dale. 


1 20  A  Young  Mails  Religion 

of  goodness,  God's  way  of  making  good  men.  Of 
course,  in  saying  this  I  am  not  saying  all  that 
Christianity  is.  Christianity  is  a  revelation  of 
truth,  truth  concerning  God,  truth  concerning 
man,  truth  concerning  the  future ;  and  these 
various  truths  have  need  to  be  stated  in  terms 
of  the  intellect,  and  to  be  set  in  their  due  relation 
the  one  to  the  other.  So  that  in  saying  that 
Christianity  is  simply  a  method  of  goodness  we 
are  not  in  any  way  taking  sides  with  those  foolish 
and  ignorant  persons  who  affect  the  depreciation 
of  doctrines  and  creeds.  A  generation  that  has 
learned  the  value  of  accurately  drawn  and  care- 
fully grouped  statements  of  science  ought  to  know 
better  than  to  fling  its  cheap  and  idle  sneers 
at  what  is  called  Systematic  Theology.  For 
Theology  is  only  the  attempt  of  the  student  of 
the  Scriptures  to  do  for  the  facts  of  Revelation 
what  every  one  insists  the  geologist  and  the 
astronomer  shall  do  for  the  facts  of  Nature.  But 
(and  this  is  what  is  really  meant  by  saying  that 
Christianity  is  simply  a  method  of  goodness)  all 
Christian  truth  is  in  order  to  Christian  life ; 
doctrine  leads  by  a  straight  path  to  practice. 
Knowledge  here  is  never  an  end  in  itself,  but 
only  a  means  to  an  end.  It  is  given  not  for 
its  own  sake  merely,  that  we  may  know,  but 
in  order  that,  knowing,  we  may  do.  So  that 
if  we  do,  with  perfect  accuracy,  speak  of  Chris- 
tianity as  a  revelation  of  truth,  let  us  remember 
that  it  is  so  only  in  order  that  thereby  it   may 


The  Morality  of  the  Religious        121 

become  a  method  of  goodness  ;  for  to  make  men 
good,  rather  than  to  teach  men  truth,  must  always 
be  its  great  and  final  purpose. 

One  other  preliminary  explanation  let  me 
make.  Christianity  is  a  method  of  goodness — 
but  that  does  not  mean  that  when  a  man  takes 
upon  himself  the  profession  of  Christian  disciple- 
ship,  and  joins  the  Christian  Church,  he  is  thereby 
boasting  of  his  own  goodness  or  loudly  thanking 
God  that  he  is  not  as  other  men.  There  seems 
to  be  considerable  misunderstanding  about  this 
matter.  Men  are  continually  excusing  themselves 
from  joining  the  Church  of  Christ,  because,  they 
say,  they  dare  not  assert  such  a  claim  to  personal 
righteousness  as  seems  to  them  to  be  involved  in 
taking  that  step.  The  hesitation  may  not  be 
unworthy,  none  the  less  it  springs  from  a  mis- 
apprehension. If  I  can  interpret  the  mind  of 
others  by  my  own  mind,  joining  the  Church  of 
Christ  is  no  proud  profession  of  strength ;  it  is 
rather  a  humble  acknowledgment  of  weakness. 
It  does  not  mean,  "  See  how  good  a  man  I  am, 
how  much  better  than  these  miserable  sinners  that 
are  without "  ;  rather  does  it  mean,  "  I  know,  I 
have  found  out,  how  bad,  how  weak,  and  how 
sinful  I  am  ;  and  I  come  to  Christ,  and  I  come 
to  Christ's  people,  that  He  and  they  may  help  me 
that  I  may  live  a  better  and  a  holier  life."  But 
mark,  and  this  is  the  one  point  that  I  wish  just 
now  to  emphasize,  that  is  what  these  things — our 
Church-going  and   our  Church    membership — are 


122  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

doing  for  us,  if  they  are  not  wholly  missing  their 
end.  We  are  not  boasting  when  we  make  use  of 
them,  but  God  and  man  alike  will  condemn  us  if 
we  do  not  profit  by  them.  To  join  the  Church 
from  a  desire  to  lead  a  better  life,  and  then  to 
rest  content  with  that,  is  to  make  of  our  Church 
membership  a  mockery  and  a  sham.  Therefore  I 
come  back  to  the  point  from  which  I  started,  and 
I  repeat,  Christianity  in  the  long  run  is  simply  a 
method  of  goodness,  and  the  value  of  our  pro- 
fession of  it  is  just  exactly  the  degree  in  which  it 
is  leading  us,  not  only  to  know  and  to  desire,  but 
to  do  the  will  of  our  Father  which  is  in  Heaven. 


II 

Christianity  a  method  of  goodness — no  more 
obvious  truism  could  fall  from  the  lips  of  a 
Christian  teacher.  Yet  is  there  anything  more 
distressing  in  the  whole  history  of  Christendom, 
ancient  and  modern,  than  the  fashion  in  which 
this  simple  axiom  of  religion  has  been,  and  still  is, 
ignored  and  set  at  nought  ?  The  littlenesses  of 
the  great,  the  follies  of  the  wise,  the  sins  of  the 
good,  the  inconsistencies  of  them  that  call  them- 
selves Christians,  ah  me  !  it  is  enough  to  make 
the  angels  weep. 

Some  people  seem  to  think  it  is  all  the  fault 
of  the  pulpit.  "  He  is  a  contemptible  cur,"  breaks 
out  some  one  in  one  of  Mark  Rutherford's  books, 
"  and  yet  it  is  not  his  fault.      He  has  heard  ser- 


The  Morality  of  the  Religious        1 2  3 

mons  about  all  sorts  of  supernatural  subjects  for 
thirty  years,  and  he  has  never  once  been  warned 
against  meanness,  so,  of  course,  he  supposes  that 
supernatural  subjects  are  everything,  and  mean- 
ness is  nothing."  I  am  not  sure  that  the  peril  in 
some  quarters  just  now  is  not  rather  lest  we  come 
to  think  that  supernatural  subjects  are  nothing 
and  that  sermons  against  meanness  and  the  like 
are  all  that  are  needed  to  bring  in  the  millennium. 
Believe  me,  that  will  not  last  long  ;  for  if  men 
cease  to  believe  in  the  supernatural  they  will  find 
it  difficult  to  discover  a  reason  why  they  should 
preach  at  all,  and  then  the  sermons  against  mean- 
ness and  the  sermons  on  supernatural  subjects  will 
vanish  into  air  together.  Nevertheless,  it  may  be 
granted  that  the  pulpit  has  often  been  to  blame, 
and  that  there  have  been  times  when  the  Church, 
though  she  has  spoken  with  no  uncertain  sound 
concerning  the  great  doctrinal  verities  of  our  faith, 
has  been  strangely  silent  concerning  many  of  the 
moral  precepts  and  principles  of  the  Word  of  God. 
But  the  pew  cannot  escape  its  full  share  of 
responsibility.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  if  some 
Sabbath  day  the  man  in  the  pulpit  speaks  a 
plain,  straight  word  concerning  one  of  the  cardinal 
virtues,  truthfulness  or  honesty,  when  the  service 
is  over,  some  one  will  shrug  his  shoulders  and  say, 
"  Well,  that  is  all  very  well ;  but  that  isn't  preach- 
ing the  Gospel."  One  is  tempted  to  wonder  what 
kind  of  comment  people  of  this  sort  would  make 
if,  somehow  or  other,  we  could   make   it   possible 


124  ^  Young  Man  s  Religion 

for  them  to  hear  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  for 
the  first  time.  They  would  probably  find  it  a 
little  "  unspiritual."  I  remember  receiving,  one 
Monday  evening,  a  letter  from  some  one  who  had 
been  present  in  the  church  in  which,  on  the 
previous  day,  I  had  conducted  public  worship. 
My  correspondent  told  me  that  he  had  come  to 
the  service,  "  hoping  to  hear  the  Gospel  preached." 
"  But,"  said  he,  "  I  was  much  disappointed.  I 
thought  you  missed  a  splendid  opportunity  of 
telling  to  a  large  concourse  of  people  the  way  of 
salvation  which,  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  you 
are  commissioned  to  do."  What  actually  had 
happened  ?  I  had  read  that  section  of  St.  Paul's 
Epistle  to  the  Colossians  in  which  he  gives  coun- 
sel to  wives  and  to  husbands,  to  children  and  to 
parents,  to  servants  and  to  masters,  and  then,  with 
the  Apostle's  words  as  my  text,  I  had  preached 
a  sermon  on  Family  Life  and  Family  Religion, 
because  it  seemed  to  me  that,  if  the  Apostle 
thought  it  worth  while  to  give  up  a  third  of  a 
chapter  in  one  short  letter  to  writing  about  these 
things,  it  could  hardly  be  a  mistake  to  ask  a 
Christian  congregation  on  a  Sunday  morning  to 
spend  half  an  hour  in  thinking  about  what  he  had 
written.  And  this  was  what  came  of  it :  I  was 
told  that  I  was  not  preaching  the  Gospel.  I  do  not 
question  for  a  moment  the  sincerity  and  excellence 
of  my  correspondent's  motive  :  but  I  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  say,  with  all  the  emphasis  I  can  command, 
that  this  idea,  that  what  we  call  "  the  Gospel "  has 


The  Morality  of  the  Religious        125 


nothing  to  do  with  moral  duty,  is  one  of  the  most 
pestilential  heresies  that  ever  cursed  and  blighted 
the  Church. 

This  unhappy  divorce  of  two  things  that  God 
has  joined  together,  and  that  man  ought  never  to 
put  asunder — I  mean,  Religion  and  Morality — 
has  been  brought  about  in  several  ways.  It  is 
due,  in  part,  to  the  perversion  of  Evangelical 
Christianity  itself.  Just  because  salvation  is  by 
faith  and  not  by  works,  because  it  is  wholly  of 
the  grace  of  God  and  nothing  of  the  merit  of 
man,  because,  as  the  beautiful  Communion  service 
of  the  Anglican  Church  puts  it,  God  forgiveth  us, 
"  not  weighing  our  merits  but  pardoning  our 
offences,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  "  ;  "  there- 
fore," wicked  men  have  argued,  "  let  us  continue 
in  sin  that  grace  may  abound."  From  the  days 
of  St.  Paul  until  now  that  evil  spirit  of  Anti- 
nomianism  (as  our  forefathers  used  to  call  it),  the 
spirit  that  makes  light  of  the  law  of  God,  has 
haunted,  like  a  dark  shadow,  the  Church  of  Christ. 
Every  one  who  has  read  anything  of  the  early 
history  of  our  Methodist  Church  knows  how,  in 
the  last  century,  John  Wesley  had  to  grapple  and 
wrestle  with  that  spirit  of  evil.  "  Absolute,  avowed 
enemies  of  the  law  of  God,"  he  called  the  Anti- 
nomians  of  his  day.  "  With  them  '  preaching  the 
law '  was  an  abomination.  They  had  '  nothing  to 
do '  with  the  law.  They  would  '  preach  Christ,' 
as  they  called  it,  but  without  one  word  of  holiness 
or  of  good  works."     Perhaps  the  Church  of  Christ 


126  A  Young  Mail  s  Religion 

never  had  a  teacher  who,  with  more  patience  and 
more  simplicity,  sought  to  make  plain  to  all  men 
God's  way  of  salvation  than  did  John  Wesley,  but 
doctrines  of  this  kind  he  denounced,  and  justly 
denounced,  as  doctrines  of  the  devil. 

Another  explanation  of  the  lamentable  sever- 
ance of  morality  from  religion  lies  perhaps  in  the 
strange  tenacity  with  which  men  have  always  clung 
to  the  idea  that  a  certain  moral  laxity  can  be 
atoned  for  by  special  and  peculiar  devotion  to  the 
observances  of  religion.     Let  me  illustrate  : — 

An  employer  of  labour  neglects  his  workmen, 
and  suffers  them  to  be  wronged.  He  does  not 
mean  to  be  unjust,  but  the  necessary  oversight  is 
distasteful  to  him.  He  would  rather  give  five 
hours  to  philanthropical  and  religious  committees 
than  one  to  his  factory  or  labour  yard,  and  every 
"  good  cause "  finds  in  him  a  generous  friend. 
Then,  when  the  bill  for  the  neglected  workmen 
comes  in,  he  remembers  his  committees  and  his 
charities,  and  writes  "  paid "  at  the  foot  of  the 
account. 

A  workman  scamps  his  work,  and  wastes  his 
master's  time,  but  at  the  end  of  the  week  pockets 
his  master's  wages;  and  if,  sometimes,  the  thought 
of  the  scamped  work  or  the  wasted  hours  makes 
him  wince,  he  remembers  that  for  years  he  has 
been  a  regular  church-goer,  and  has  never  been 
behind  with  his  pew  rents  ;  and  with  that  sop  he 
keeps  conscience  quiet. 

A  member  of  my  Church  once  told  me  that,  in 


The  Morality  of  the  Religious        1 2  7 

his  youth,  he  was  in  the  employ  of  a  plumber,  who 
was  an  elder  in  a  Presbyterian  Church,  but  who 
habitually  evaded  the  terms  of  his  contracts.  He 
would  undertake  to  supply  work  of  a  given  char- 
acter, and  then  would  send  in  work  of  an  inferior 
sort.  And,  again,  I  suppose,  if  the  thought  of  the 
dishonest  plumbing  work  troubled  him,  by  a  kind 
of  unconscious  mental  arithmetic,  he  set  over 
against  it  the  time  and  the  money  that  he  had 
spent  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  eldership. 

There  is  a  story  told  in  George  Eliot's  Life  of 
a  woman  (I  am  sorry  to  say  she  was  a  Methodist), 
against  whom  was  brought  a  charge  of  lying. 
When  the  accusation  against  her  was  proved  so 
that  there  was  no  possibility  of  escaping  from  it, 
all  that  she  had  to  say  by  way  of  self-excuse  was 
that  she  did  not  feel  that  she  had  greatly  grieved 
the  Holy  Spirit !  I  say  she  was  a  Methodist ; 
presumably  she  "  met  in  class,"  and  perhaps  paid 
her  contributions  with  regularity,  and  I  suppose 
she  thought  that  the  H^oly  Spirit  would  have 
regard  to  these  things,  and  would  not  be  greatly 
grieved  though  she  had  told  a  lie. 

And  so,  all  the  world  over,  men  are  using  their 
religion  as  a  make-weight  for  moral  shortcomings, 
and  are  busy  seeking  or  inventing  substitutes  for 
that  for  which  no  substitute  can  ever  be  found,  the 
doing  of  the  will  of  God. 


128  A  Young  Mans  Religio'i 


III 

I  am  only  a  clumsy  physician,  and  my  diag- 
nosis of  the  evil  to  which  I  am  referring  may  be 
very  imperfect,  but  every  one  knows  the  mischief 
it  is  doing  every  day  of  the  week  and  every  week 
of  the  year,  both  in  the  Church  and  out  of  it. 
We  Christian  men  and  women  often  come  together 
in  our  conferences  and  conventions  and  the  like, 
to  discuss  what  we  sometimes  call  "  the  state  of 
the  work  of  God  "  among  us.  Why,  we  ask  our- 
selves, with  genuine  earnestness  and  great  heart- 
searchings,  does  not  the  Gospel  make  greater 
headway?  Why  does  not  Christ's  kingdom  come? 
Why  drive  His  chariot-wheels  so  heavily  ?  One 
thinks  it  is  the  spread  of  infidel  literature  among 
the  working-classes  that  is  hindering  us  ;  another 
puts  everything  down  to  the  growth  of  sacrament- 
arianism  and  sacerdotalism  ;  one  blames  the  foot- 
ball field  and  another  the  public-house,  while 
somebody  gravely  suggests  that  it  is  the  "  higher 
critics"  who  are  the  cause  of  all  our  difficulties. 
Well,  there  may  be  some  certain  dregs  of  truth  in 
all  these  explanations.  But  suppose  we  could  go 
to-morrow  morning  to  the  factories  and  dockyards 
and  workshops  of  our  land,  where  five  out  of  six 
of  its  bread-winners  are  at  work,  and  could  ask 
them  why  so  many  of  them  were  not  in  any  place 
of  worship  last  Sunday,  what  do  you  think  they 
would  tell  us  ?      Here  and  there  we  might  find  a 


The  Morality  of  the  Religious        1 29 

man  whose  mind  had  been  disturbed  by  some- 
thing he  had  read  ;  here  and  there  another  who 
had  been  caught  in  the  mesh  of  our  modern  sacra- 
mentarianism  ;  but,  for  the  most  part,  we  should 
hear  little  about  "  higher  critics,"  or  infidel  liter- 
ature, or  Romanizing  priests.  If  we  could  get 
them  to  talk  it  would  not  be  of  these  they  would 
speak,  but  of  the  Methodist  woman  who  goes  to 
class  and  tells  lies,  and  the  Presbyterian  plumber 
who  does  bad  plumbing  work,  and  Mr.  Somebody- 
or-other  who  fills  to  the  brim  the  coffers  of  this 
and  that  charitable  and  religious  institution,  and 
grinds  the  faces  of  the  poor — these  are  the  things 
we  should  hear  about. 

I  was  present  once  at  a  large  working-men's 
conference,  called  to  discuss  this  very  problem  : 
"  Why  don't  working  men  go  to  church  ?  "  All 
the  speaking  was  done  by  the  men  themselves  ; 
and  will  you  believe  me  when  I  say  that  the  gist 
of  five-sixths  of  what  was  said  that  Sunday  after- 
noon was  this  :  "  We  don't  go  to  church  because 
we  don't  see  that  you  who  do  are  any  better  than 
we  who  don't  "  ?  Much  that  was  said  was  harsh 
and  bitter,  unjust  and  untrue ;  but  I  learned  that 
day,  as  I  had  never  learned  before,  that  it  is  the 
yawning  gulf  between  what  we  say  and  what  we 
are,  that,  more  than  all  else  besides,  keeps  men 
back  to-day  from  the  Master's  feet. 

Read  again  the  story  of  the  early  Christian 
Church,  as  it  is  written  in  the  opening  chapters  of 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.      See  how,  again  and 

K 


130  A  Young  Mans  Religio7i 

again,  the  blood-red  hand  of  the  persecutor  was 
uplifted  to  smite  and  slay  the  infant  Church  in 
its  cradle  ;  and  yet,  despite  all  that  Annas  and 
Caiaphas  and  John  and  Alexander,  and  the  whole 
might  of  the  Sanhedrim  could  do,  "  the  more 
mightily  grew  the  Word  of  the  Lord  and  pre- 
vailed." And  the  first  blow  that  was  struck  at 
the  Church  that  hurt  it  was  struck  by  a  hand 
that  should  have  been  the  hand  of  a  friend,  when 
Ananias  and  Sapphira,  from  within  the  Church, 
sought  to  turn  it  to  their  own  base  and  selfish 
ends.  It  is  a  saying  in  literary  circles  that  no 
man  is  ever  written  down  except  by  himself;  and 
the  only  foes  who  have,  or  have  ever  had,  power 
against  the  Church  to  hurt  her  are  the  traitors 
within  her,  who  stab  her  in  secret,  and  hide  the 
devilry  of  their  doing  amid  the  plentiful  folds  of 
the  cloak  of  profession. 

We  need,  as  Dr.  Dale  was  never  weary  of 
telling  us,  an  Ethical  Revival  within  the  Church. 
Every  one  knows  the  evils  which  befell  Europe  in 
the  days  before  Luther  came,  the  snares  into 
which  England  stumbled  in  the  days  before 
Wesley  and  Whitefield  came,  the  darkness  which 
lay  over  Scotland  in  the  days  before  Chalmers 
came,  when  the  lamp  of  truth  was  hidden  under 
the  bushel  of  error,  and  ignorant  men  by  their 
ignorant  counsel  darkened  the  way  of  salvation  ; 
but,  our  peril  is  not  one  whit  less  grave  or 
one  whit  less  menacing,  if  we  neglect  the  great 
moral    revelation    which    in    His   Word    God    has 


The  Morality  of  the  Religious        1 3 1 

given  to  His  Church.  We  must  strive  for  such 
an  elevation  in  the  tone  of  the  morality  of  the 
religious  that — if  I  may  put  it  in  simple,  concrete 
form — the  Methodist  woman  must  either  give  up 
her  lies  or  her  class,  and  the  Presbyterian  plumber 
must  either  do  honest  plumbing  work  or  resign 
his  eldership  ;  and  as  for  the  master  who  neglects 
his  workmen,  and  the  workman  who  neglects  his 
work,  we  must  make  the  Church  so  hot  for  them 
that  they  will  either  mend  their  ways  or  quit  it. 
We  who  say  we  love  the  Lord  must  hate  all  evil. 
And  when  we  seek  to  do  this  we  shall  but  be 
bringing  ourselves  into  line  with  every  word  that 
is  written  in  the  Book  that  we  used  to  call  "  The 
religion  of  Protestants."  Read  the  Old  Testa- 
ment ;  every  page  of  the  book  burns  and  throbs 
with  the  passion  for  righteousness  :  "  I,  the  Lord, 
hate  evil "  ;  the  righteous  God — it  is  the  burden 
of  the  cry  of  prophet  after  prophet — must  have 
a  righteous  people  ;  the  sacrifices  of  God  are  a 
broken  spirit  and  a  contrite  heart.  And  if  from 
the  Old  we  turn  to  the  New  Testament,  the 
witness  of  the  Word  is  even  more  unmistakable. 
Can  it  be  that  some  Christian  people  keep  private 
"  revised  versions  "  of  the  Scriptures  of  their  own, 
in  which  they  have  pasted  little  slips  of  blank 
white  paper  over  some  of  the  inconvenient  texts  ? 
Faith  without  works,  says  James,  is  "  dead " ; 
which,  being  interpreted,  means  this,  that  "  if  any 
man  thinketh  himself  to  be  religious,  while  he 
bridleth  not  his  tongue,  this  man's  religion  is  vain," 


132  A  Yoicng  Mans  Religion 

nothing,  counts  for  nothing.  John,  too,  the  man 
we  thought  all  tears  and  tenderness,  John  can 
knit  his  brows  and  be  as  stern  as  James  himself, 
when  he  thinks  about  this  matter  ;  "  he  that  doeth 
not  righteousness,"  he  says,  "  is  not  of  God."  And 
Paul,  the  Apostle  of  Faith,  he  who  is  pre-emi- 
nently the  "  theologian  "  of  the  New  Testament — 
he,  more  than  they  all,  bids  us  walk  worthily  of 
the  Lord,  bearing  fruit  in  every  good  work.  And 
if,  past  all  the  Apostles,  we  go  into  His  presence 
from  whose  words  there  can  be  no  appeal,  we 
shall  hear  Him  say  that  the  day  cometh  when 
His  great  throne  shall  be  set  up,  and  when,  from 
the  midst  of  it.  He  Himself  will  say  even  unto 
some  who  have  prophesied  in  His  name,  and  in 
His  name  have  done  many  wonderful  works,  "  I 
never  knew  you  ;  depart  from  Me,  ye  that  work 
iniquity."  Listen  to  the  testimony  of  the  whole 
Book,  and  it  will  seem  sometimes  as  if  all  the 
prophets  were  one  prophet,  and  all  the  psalmists 
one  psalmist,  and  all  the  apostles  one  apostle  ; 
and  then  as  if  prophet  and  psalmist  and  apostle 
spake  with  but  one  voice,  and  with  that  voice 
uttered  but  one  word,  and  that  word  this  :  "  If  a 
man  say  he  love  God,  and  hate  not  evil,  he  de- 
ceiveth  himself,  and  the  truth  is  not  in  him." 


IV 

One  other  word  I  dare  not  leave  unsaid,  for  I 
know  all  too  well  the  use  that  some  are  always 


The  Morality  of  the  Religious        133 

ready  to  make  of  ugly  facts  like  those  I  have 
mentioned.  There  are  on  the  fringe  of  all  our 
Churches  to-day  men  and  women  who  lay  hold 
of  incidents  like  these  of  the  Methodist  woman 
and  the  Presbyterian  plumber,  and  then  turn  on 
us  to  rend  us  with  their  sneering  interrogations. 
"  Didn't  we  tell  you  so  ?  There's  your  religion  ! 
That's  Christianity  !  Why  should  we  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  it  ?  "  And  if  that  is  our  religion, 
if  that  is  Christianity,  they  are  right ;  there  is  no 
reason  why  they  should  have  anything  to  do  with 
it.  If  Christianity  is  not  a  method  of  goodness, 
if  by  its  means  bad  men  are  not  being  made 
good,  and  good  men  better,  all  the  apologetics  in 
the  world  will  not  keep  it  alive.  But  no  man 
needs  a  preacher  to  tell  him  that  that  is  not  our 
religion,  that  that  is  not  Christianity.  How  many 
times  must  it  be  said  :  it  is  with  what  is  written 
here,  in  the  Word  of  God  and  the  life  of  Christ, 
written  too  in  great,  round  letters  which  he  that 
runs  may  read — it  is  with  that,  and  not  with  the 
crabbed  and  crooked  lettering  of  the  lives  of  im- 
perfect men,  that  we  have  to  do. 

And  if  we  must  have  regard  to  the  lives  of 
Christ's  disciples,  can  we  find  none  but  these  that 
tell  of  shameful  weakness  and  disgrace  ?  The 
author  of  Ecce  Homo  says  :  "  There  has  scarcely 
been  a  town  in  any  Christian  country  since  the 
time  of  Christ  where  a  century  has  passed  with- 
out exhibiting  a  character  of  such  elevation  that 
his  mere  presence  has  shamed  the  bad  and  made 


134  ^  Yotmg  Mans  Religion 

the  good  better,  and  has  been  felt  at  times  like 
the  presence  of  God  Himself."  You  know  how 
true  that  is,  how  infinitely  less  than  the  truth  it  is. 
Think  for  a  moment,  and  you  can  remember  men 
— perhaps  your  own  father  was  one  of  them — 
brave  and  honest  and  pure  and  true.  They  could 
die  but  they  could  not  lie.  Like  Arthur's  knights, 
they  reverenced  their  conscience  as  their  king ; 
they  spake  no  slander,  no,  nor  listened  to  it — 
men  in  whose  presence  impurity  hid  its  brazen 
face  abashed,  and  the  foul  words  died  away,  un- 
spoken, on  the  tongue.  Ay,  and  women  too — 
perhaps  your  own  mother  was  one  of  them — they 
lived  but  commonplace  lives,  filled  with  common- 
place cares  ;  but  every  day  they  walked  with  God 
and  were  transfigured  ;  and  when  you  saw  them 
you  thanked  God  that  all  His  angels  were  not 
in  heaven.  And  all  these  were  what  they  were 
because  He  dwelt  in  them  and  they  in  Him  ; 
because  every  day  they  bowed  saying,  "  Lord, 
what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ? "  These  are 
"  God's  workmanship  " ;  this  is  what  He  can  do 
for  every  life  that  will  commit  itself  wholly  into 
His  hands. 


THE    WITNESS    OF    HEREDITY    TO 
FAITH 


' '  How  strange  it  seems  that  physical  science  should  ever  have  been 
thought  adverse  to  religion  !  The  pride  of  physical  science  is,  indeed, 
adverse — like  every  other  pride — both  to  religion  and  truth  ;  but  the 
sincerity  of  science,  so  far  from  being  hostile,  is  the  pathmaker  among 
the  mountains  for  the  feet  of  those  %vh^  publish  peace.'''' 

John  Ruskin. 


IX 

THE   WITNESS   OF    HEREDITY  TO 
FAITH 

THROUGH  the  whole  realm  of  living  things 
runs  the  great  law  of  inheritance.  All 
that  lives  tends  to  repeat  itself  in  the  life  of  its 
offspring.  Cattle  and  creeping  thing  and  beast 
of  the  field,  "  every  living  creature  that  moveth," 
each  (according  to  the  language  of  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis)  bringeth  forth  "after  its 
kind."  Men  do  not  gather  grapes  of  thorns  nor 
figs  of  thistles,  but,  as  the  old  proverb  runs,  "  like 
begets  like."  Nor  is  it  a  merely  general  re- 
semblance of  organic  structure  that  one  generation 
transmits  to  another.  It  is  not  only  the  "  type  " 
that  persists,  but  individual  features,  characteristic 
traits  and  peculiarities,  sometimes  of  a  very  minute 
kind,  tend  to  repeat  themselves  in  successive 
generations.  By  what  subtle,  mysterious  pro- 
cesses one  life  is  thus  able,  as  it  were,  to  incarnate 
itself  anew  in  the  life  of  its  offspring  no  man  can 
tell,  but  the  fact  itself  is  beyond  dispute. 


o 


8  A  Young  Mans  Religion 


The  ant,  e.g.,  begins  life,  not  only  with  the 
form  and  structure  of  its  ancestry,  but  in  full 
possession  of  those  marvellous  industrial  instincts 
which  to-day  have  passed  into  a  proverb.  The 
wonderful  sagacity  of  the  sheep-dog,  which  no 
amount  of  training  could  ever  confer  upon  a 
poodle  or  fox-terrier,  comes  to  it  by  way  of  in- 
heritance as  part  of  its  birthright.  In  like  fashion, 
old  habits,  curious  antipathies  still  persist  where 
the  originating  circumstances  have  long  ceased  to 
exist.  Thus  we  are  told  that  "  in  the  menageries, 
straw  that  has  served  as  litter  in  the  lions'  or  the 
tigers'  cage  is  useless  for  horses  ;  the  smell  of  it 
terrifies  them,  although  countless  equine  genera- 
tions must  have  passed  since  their  ancestors  had 
any  cause  to  fear  attack  from  feline  foes."  When 
a  dog,  without  any  apparent  reason,  turns  itself 
round  and  round  before  settling  down  on  the 
hearth-rug  before  the  fire,  it  is  probably  only 
doing  what  some  savage  and  remote  ancestor  did, 
long  generations  ago,  when  it  trampled  down  the 
long  grass  of  the  forest  to  make  a  lair  for  itself 
for  the  night. 

And  the  law,  thus  roughly  illustrated  in  the 
case  of  animals,  holds  true  also  when  we  come  to 
man.      When  Tennyson  tells  us  how 

"  Sometimes  in  a  dead  man's  face, 

To  those  that  watch  it  more  and  more, 
A  likeness,  hardly  seen  before, 
Comes  out — to  some  one  of  his  race," 

he  is  only  giving  poetic  form  to  a  well-known  fact 


The  Witness  of  Heredity  to  Faith     139 

of  science.  Every  one  knows  how  the  distinctive 
type  of  features  that  we  call  "  Jewish  "  reappears 
in  generation  after  generation.  The  vagabondism 
of  the  gipsy  is  in  his  blood  ;  he  cannot  help  him- 
self. It  is  said  that  the  Austrian  Government 
once  tried  to  form  a  regiment  of  gipsies  ;  but 
nature  proved  too  strong  even  for  military 
authority :  at  the  first  encounter  they  all  ran 
away.  Genius,  like  gout  and  colour-blindness, 
and  a  hundred  other  physical  and  intellectual 
characteristics,  tends  to  run  in  families  ;  so  that 
we  have  the  aquiline  nose  of  the  Bourbons,  the 
insolent  pride  of  the  Guises,  the  musical  genius 
of  the  Bachs,  the  scientific  genius  of  the  Darwins. 
And,  on  the  other  hand,  every  philanthropist  and 
social  reformer  knows  with  how  deadly  a  grip 
hereditary  vices  like  laziness  and  lust  and  drunk- 
enness fasten  themselves  on  their  unfortunate 
victims.  Along  all  the  lines  of  his  being — 
physical,  mental,  moral — man  derives  from  his 
past. 

Indeed,  it  is  unnecessary  to  labour  the  argu- 
ment further,  for  we  are  all  every  day  assuming 
the  truth  of  it.  You  would  not  willingly  allow  a 
child  of  yours  to  be  married  to  the  son  or  daughter 
of  imbecile  or  consumptive  parents,  because  you 
know  all  too  well  the  terrible  risk  you  would  incur. 
Go  to  an  insurance  company  to  take  out  a  policy 
on  your  life,  and  they  will  ask  you  questions  not 
only  about  yourself,  but  about  your  family,  its 
liability  to  special   forms  of  disease,  and  so  forth, 


140  A  Young  Mails  Religion 

because  they  know  that  that  family  history  tends 
to  repeat  itself  in  your  life.  When  a  man  sits 
down  to  write  a  biography,  he  begins  with  the 
parents,  the  grandparents,  or  still  more  remote 
ancestors  of  the  subject  of  his  book,  because,  again, 
he  knows  that  if  we  are  to  understand  him  of 
whom  he  writes,  we  must  first  of  all  understand 
them  from  whom  he  sprang,  and  who  helped  to 
make  him  the  man  he  was.  As  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes  says,  "  This  body  in  which  we  journey 
across  the  isthmus  between  the  two  oceans  is  not 
a  private  carriage,  but  an  omnibus "  ;  and  it  is 
our  ancestors  who  are  our  fellow -passengers. 
Yesterday  is  at  work  in  to-day  ;  to-day  will  live 
again  in  to-morrow.  The  lives  of  all  of  us  are 
moulded  by  unseen  hands  which  reach  down  to 
us  out  of  the  past,  and  the  deeds  of  the  fathers, 
be  they  good  or  be  they  evil,  are  visited  upon  the 
children  unto  the  third  and  fourth,  or,  it  may  be, 
the  thousandth  generation. 

Now  this  doctrine  of  heredity  is,  as  we  say, 
very  much  "  in  the  air  "  at  the  present  moment. 
We  meet  with  it  everywhere.  The  man  on  the 
street  is  as  eager  to  argue  about  it  as  the  philo- 
sopher. The  dramatist,  the  novelist,  the  journalist, 
the  educationalist,  the  moralist,  the  social  reformer, 
and  the  theologian  have  all  made  the  subject  their 
own,  and  are  all  ready  with  their  own  applica- 
tions of  it  in  the  various  provinces  of  our  modern 
life  and  thought.  With  many  of  these  applications 
I  have  at  this  moment  nothing  to  do.      They  arc 


The  Witness  of  Heredity  to  Faith     141 


very  important,  but  they  lie  outside  the  province 
of  the  religious  teacher.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
impossible  to  ignore  the  fact  that  the  doctrine  of 
heredity,  as  it  is  held  and  taught  by  many  to- 
day, cuts  away  the  ground  from  under  the  feet  of 
religion  and  morality  ahke.  It  is  not  merely  that 
it  conflicts  with  this  or  that  conclusion  of  morality  ; 
it  destroys  the  very  basis  of  all  morality,  and  makes 
the  name  itself  to  be  meaningless.  It  is  not 
merely  that  it  denies  this  or  that  doctrine  of  the 
Bible  ;  it  makes  null  and  void  the  truths  which 
the  Bible  everywhere  assumes  as  the  groundwork 
of  all.  Especially  is  this  true  of  some  of  our 
modern  writers  of  fiction.  Life  by  them  is  literally 
demoralized.  There  is  no  room  for  anything  like 
morality  left  in  it.  Thomas  Hardy,  for  example, 
delightful  as  many  of  his  books  are,  yet  depicts 
human  life  in  such  a  way  that  you  feel  as  if  his 
peasants  and  milkmaids  were  on  a  level,  and,  in- 
deed, of  a  piece,  with  the  cattle  they  tend.  Now, 
to  acquiesce  in  teaching  of  this  sort,  as  a  criticism 
or  as  an  interpretation  of  life,  is  like  consenting  to 
be  choked,  and  it  is  against  all  such  teaching  that 
our  protest  to-day  needs  to  be  both  clear  and 
strong.  But  before  I  pass  on  to  speak  of  the 
relation  of  the  facts  of  heredity  to  moral  responsi- 
bility— which  will  be  the  subject  of  the  succeeding 
chapter — let  me  now  point  out  that,  while  we 
may  and  must  refuse  to  accept  the  extreme  con- 
clusions to  which  some  would  drive  us,  there  is 
much   in   this   doctrine  which   we   may    not   only 


142  A  Young  Man  s  Religion 

admit,  but  which,  indeed,  we  may  gladly  welcome 
as  an  aid  to  a  fuller  and  truer  understanding:  of 
some  of  the  great  truths  of  the  Christian  Gospel. 

Yet  at  the  very  outset  I  may  be  challenged 
with  the  old  queries  of  those  to  whom  heredity 
has  always  seemed  a  stumbling-block  in  the 
way  of  faith.  Why  are  the  innocent  doomed 
to  suffer  for  the  sins  of  the  guilty  ?  Why  do 
little  children,  cursed  from  their  mother's  womb, 
"  soak  and  blacken,  soul  and  sense,  in  city  slime  "  ? 
Is  not  the  white  robe  of  Divine  justice  stained 
when  thus  the  sins  of  the  fathers  are  visited  upon 
their  helpless  offspring  ?  But  this  is  to  argue 
from  one  set  of  the  facts  only.  If  some  are  born 
to  an  inheritance  of  woe,  are  not  others  likewise 
born  to  an  inheritance  of  good  ?  If  some  reap 
only  poisonous  hemlock,  do  not  others  gather 
wholesome  grain  ?  If  to  one  man  heredity  is  as 
Mount  Ebal  darkening  with  its  curse,  is  it  not 
to  another  as  Mount  Gerizim,  gladdening  with 
its  benediction  ?  And  the  good  outweighs  the 
evil.  "  The  evil  that  men  do,"  says  Shakespeare, 
"  lives  after  them  ;  the  good  is  oft  interred  with 
their  bones."  The  Bible  view  is  at  once  truer 
and  more  hopeful ;  for  while  the  iniquity  of  the 
fathers  is  visited  upon  the  children,  "  unto  the 
third  and  the  fourth  generation,"  mercy  is  shown 
'*  unto  a  thousand  generations,"  ^  "  of  them  that 
love  Me  and  keep  My  commandments." 

Before  we  speak  of  the  injustice  of  the  law  of 

^  See  Exod.  xx.  6,  marg.  R.V. 


The  Witness  of  Heredity  to  Faith     143 

heredity,  let  us  ask  ourselves :  what  if  there 
were  no  such  law?  If  no  provision  were  made 
by  which  the  gains  of  one  generation  could 
be  handed  on  to  the  next,  and  so  become  the 
permanent  possession  of  the  race ;  if  all  had  to 
begin  at  the  same  point,  and  fight  over  again  the 
same  battles,  where  would  be  our  hope  of  the 
world's  progress  ?  The  history  of  man  would  be, 
as  one  writer  has  well  said,  like  the  old  story  of 
Sisyphus,  doomed  to  roll  incessantly  a  huge  stone 
up  a  mountain,  which,  as  soon  as  it  reached  the 
top,  rolled  down  to  the  foot  again.  Let  us  have 
regard  to  all  the  facts,  and  the  law  of  inheritance 
will  be  seen  to  be  both  just  and  good.  That 
man  has  often  turned  it  to  his  hurt,  and  has 
thereby  brought  untold  misery  upon  his  fellows, 
is,  alas  !  too  true.  But  do  not  let  us  therefore 
charge  God  foolishly,  as  though  the  responsibility 
were  not  ours,  but  His.  Whatever  the  folly  and 
sin  of  man,  the  law  remains,  a  monument  of  the 
gracious  purpose,  the  love  and  wisdom  of  the 
Eternal. 

The  doctrine  of  heredity,  I  repeat,  then,  rightly 
understood,  may  serve  to  illustrate  and  emphasize 
some  of  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith, 
and  may  show  itself  one  of  the  many  witnesses 
which  in  our  day  Christ  is  raising  up  unto 
Himself. 

(i)  Mark,  e.g.^  with  what  unequalled  emphasis 
the  teachers  of  heredity  are  proclaiming  to  us  the 
truth    of    Paul's    great    saying,   that    "  God    hath 


144  ^  Young  Mans  Religion 

made  of  one  every  nation  of  men,  for  to  dwell 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,"  and  that  therefore  "  no 
man  liveth  unto  himself."  We  are  members  one 
of  another,  so  that  if  one  member  suffer,  all  the 
members  suffer  with  it.  We  are  not  solitary 
units,  but  parts  of  a  great  social  organism,  living 
cells  in  the  tissue  of  that  organism,  bound  to- 
gether in  the  unity  of  a  common  life.  And 
this  recognition  of  the  organic  principle  in  human 
life,  says  an  eminent  theologian,  is  one  of  the 
greatest  gains  of  modern  thought  for  the  right 
understanding  of  the  Christian  doctrine  both  of 
sin  and  of  redemption.  For  this,  which  is  the 
doctrine  of  science,  is  likewise  also  one  of  the 
first  principles  of  New  Testament  truth.  "  Solid- 
arity "  may  be  a  modern  word,  but  it  stands  for 
an  idea  that  is  as  old  as  the  Scriptures  ;  and  it  is 
a  remarkable  fact  that  when  we  seek  to  state  it  in 
its  most  impressive  form,  it  is  to  their  words  that 
we  instinctively  turn.  So  that,  as  Dr.  Denney 
well  says,  "  we  need  not  be  afraid  to  contemplate 
the  laws  and  facts  of  heredity  in  all  their  extent. 
They  give  mystery  and  immensity  to  the  spiritual 
life  of  man,  and  so  far  from  qualifying  his  re- 
sponsibility, they  widen  its  range  enormously." 

(2)  Or  take  again  the  question  of  "  original 
sin,"  as  it  is  termed.  No  subject  of  theological 
inquiry  has  been  so  flouted  and  ridiculed.  Fools 
have  made  a  mock  at  it  ;  and  men  who  are  not 
fools  have  dismissed  it  as  one  of  "  the  fantastic 
inventions    of    man's     diseased     conscience     and 


The  Witness  of  Heredity  to  Faith     145 

imagination."  It  may  be  admitted  that  the 
doctrine  has  been  often  grossly  misstated,  and 
that  its  exponents  have  only  themselves  to  thank 
for  much  of  the  ill-natured  criticism  it  has  called 
forth.  But  let  us  take  care  that  no  misap- 
prehensions, whether  of  friends  or  of  foes,  hide 
from  us  the  facts.  Listen  to  this  twofold  testi- 
mony :  "  Science,"  says  a  distinguished  Cambridge 
Professor,  "  has  joined  hands  with  Christianity  on 
the  question  of  original  sin,  and  the  once  popular 
doctrine  of  the  soul  as  a  clean  white  paper  is 
gone  for  ever."  "  Men,"  says  another  recent 
writer,  speaking  from  a  wholly  different  stand- 
point, "  are  born  with  their  moral  natures  as 
deformed  or  as  imperfect  as  their  physical  ones. 
To  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  science  has  thus 
given  an  unexpected  support."  That  is  to  say, 
modern  science,  pursuing  its  own  chosen  path, 
with  no  reference,  direct  or  indirect,  to  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  has  worked  its  way 
round  at  last  to  the  side  of  St.  Paul,  and  from  the 
book  of  Nature  reads  out  to  us  what  already  we 
had  read  in  the  book  of  Revelation  :  "  All  have 
sinned,  and  fall  short  of  the  glory  of  God." 

(3)  But  the  point  I  desire  most  particularly 
to  emphasize  is  the  witness  of  heredity  to  Jesus 
Christ  Himself.  Two  brief  quotations  will  help 
to  make  plain  my  meaning  : — 

Mr.  John  Morley,  in  his  Essay  on  Voltaire, 
says  :  "  It  is  not  given,  we  all  know,  even  to  the 
most  original  and  daring  of  leaders  to  be  without 

L 


146  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

precursors,  and  Voltaire's  march  was  prepared  for 
him  before  he  was  born,  as  it  is  for  all  mortals." 

"  The  great  man,"  writes  Mr.  Grant  Allen,  in 
his  brilliant  little  volume  on  Charles  Darwin, 
"  springs  from  an  ancestry  competent  to  produce 
him  ;  he  is  the  final  flower  and  ultimate  outcome 
of  converging  hereditary  forces  that  culminate 
at  last  in  the  production  of  his  splendid  and 
exceptional  personality." 

It  may  be  that  from  the  point  of  view  of 
science  itself  these  statements  leave  something  to 
be  desired ;  but  into  that  I  cannot  now  enter. 
Let  us  take  them  as  they  stand,  and  see  whither 
they  will  lead  us.  "  It  is  not  given,"  says  Mr. 
Morley,  "  even  to  the  most  original  and  daring  of 
leaders,  to  be  without  precursors."  John  Knox, 
e.g.,  had  his  "  precursors  "  ;  his  way  was  prepared 
before  him  by  Patrick  Hamilton  and  George 
Wishart,  and  it  might  very  reasonably  be  argued 
that  there  were  forces  at  work  in  Scotland  that 
must  have  brought  about  the  Reformation,  even 
if  Knox  had  never  returned  from  Geneva  to  put 
on  the  top -stone.  But  where  are  the  "pre- 
cursors "  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  Who  are  they  who 
so  prepared  His  way  before  Him  that  without 
their  work  His  could  not  have  been  ? 

"  The  great  man,"  Grant  Allen  tells  us, 
"  springs  from  an  ancestry  competent  to  produce 
him."  Then  where  is  the  ancestry  that  produced 
Christ  ?  Where  are  the  "  converging  hereditary 
forces  "  that  culminated  at  last  in  the  production 


The  Witness  of  Heredity  to  Faith     147 

of  His  splendid  personality  ?  They  simply  can- 
not be  found,  for  they  do  not  exist.  The  mother 
of  Jesus  was  Mary.  A  pretty  legend  says  that 
His  eyes  were  the  same  colour  as  hers ;  un- 
doubtedly His  human  nature  was  influenced  by 
hers.  But,  from  Mary  to  Jesus — how  can  heredity 
bridge  that  gulf?  Nor,  if  we  turn  to  the  family 
of  which  Christ  was  a  member,  and  to  the  home 
in  which  He  was  brought  up,  and  in  which  for 
thirty  years  He  lived,  are  we  any  nearer  the 
explanation.  When,  during  the  years  of  His 
public  ministry  He  reappeared  among  his  own 
countrymen  at  Nazareth,  they  put  together  all 
they  knew  of  Him.  "  Is  not  this  the  carpenter's 
son  ?  is  not  His  mother  called  Mary  ?  and  His 
brethren,  James,  and  Joseph,  and  Simon,  and 
Judas  ?  And  His  sisters,  are  they  not  all  with 
us  ? "  Yet  they  were  as  far  off  as  ever  from 
understanding  Him  :  "  Whence,  then,  hath  this 
man  all  these  things,  this  wisdom  and  these 
mighty  works  ? " 

We  may  go  further  back  still,  and  we  may 
read  Christ's  genealogy  after  the  flesh  as  it  is 
recorded  for  us  in  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew's 
gospel  ;  but  will  any  one  pretend  that  here  are 
the  "  converging  hereditary  forces "  that  are 
presently  to  culminate  in  Him  ?  Nay,  some  of 
the  names  in  this  list  are  the  names  of  men  who 
sinned  grievously  and  heinously  against  God  and 
man  ;  and  if  it  is  from  this  human  ancestry  alone 
that  Christ's  descent  is  to  be  traced,  then  we  have 


148  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

to  reckon  with  this  starthng  fact,  that  He  who 
knew  no  sin,  who  was  Himself  holy,  un defiled, 
separate  from  sinners,  yet  sprang  from  a  tainted 
stock  ;  Job's  moral  impossibility  is  enacted  before 
our  eyes  :  a  clean  thing  has  come  forth  out  of 
an  unclean.  Is  it  not  plain  that  the  more  we 
emphasize  the  principle  of  heredity,  the  more 
helpless  and  hopeless  become  all  merely  natural- 
istic explanations  of  the  Person  of  Christ,  and  the 
more  triumphant  the  vindication  of  the  Church's 
faith  through  all  her  history  in  the  Divinity  of 
her  Lord  ? 

"  If,  amid  the  ancestral  pictures  which  hang 
upon  the  walls  of  some  old  English  manor-house, 
and  which  betray  the  same  noble  lineage  through 
many  generations,  the  features  of  some  far-off 
ancestor  reappearing,  perhaps,  in  the  last  portrait 
hung  among  those  of  the  dead,  we  should  notice 
a  face  unlike  all  before  it,  having  eyes  of  southern 
fire,  or  beauty  of  another  clime,  we  should  at  once 
conclude  that  the  strange  countenance  represented 
some  other  line  of  descent ;  that  its  presence  there 
could  not  be  explained  by  the  laws  of  heredity, 
working  through  the  English  blood  ;  and  that  an 
altogether  new  element,  at  that  point,  had  come 
into  the  family  line.  But  in  the  world's  gallery 
of  illustrious  persons,  we  find  introduced,  in  the 
miniature  of  the  Evangelists,  a  countenance  never 
seen  before  on  earth.  It  is  neither  a  Jewish  nor 
a  Gentile  face  ;  it  resembles  none  before  it ;  it  is 
like  itself  alone.      From  whence  did  it  come  into 


The  Witness  of  Heredity  to  Faith     149 

the  htnnan  f amity  ? "  This  is  the  question  to 
which  unbelief  can  make  no  answer,  the  problem 
for  which  it  can  discover  no  solution.  For  myself, 
I  accept  the  word  spoken  unto  Mary  by  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  :  "  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come 
upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Most  High  shall 
overshadow  thee  :  wherefore  also  that  which  is  to 
be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  holy,  the  Son  of 
God,"  and  I  am  ready  to  join  once  more  in  the 
Church's  great  Te  Deiim  : — 

"  Thou  art  the  King  of  glory,  O  Christ  ; 
Thou  art  the  everlasting  Son  of  the  Father." 


HEREDITY  AND   RESPONSIBILITY 


"  Because  philosophy  and  science  have  been  bringing  into  promi- 
nence the  influence  of  heredity  and  physical  environment  on  character^ 
we  use  this  consideration,  and  often  with  little  enough  knowledge  of 
real  science,  to  obliterate  the  sense  of  sift.  We  ai-e  apt  to  regard  sin 
as  it  appears  in  the  world  at  large  as  a  result  of  ignojajtce,  or  social 
conditions — as  in  one  way  or  atiother  a  form  of  7nisfortune.  And  so 
viewing  it  in  the  worlds  we  view  it  in  ourselves.  We  make  excuses 
for  ourselves.  We  have  largely  lost  the  sense  that  sin  is  wilfulness  ; 
that  it  is  an  inexcusable  offence  against  God ;  that  it  does,  and 
necessarily  does,  bring  us  under  God's  indignation  ;  that  necessarily, 
because  God  is  what  He  is,  the  consequences  of  sin  in  this  life,  and 
mzich  more  beyond  this  life,  are  incotueivably  terrible.  .  .  . 
Only  through  a  restoration  of  evangelical  severity  caji  there  be  a 
restoration  of  evangelical  joy. ''^ — Canon  Gore. 


HEREDITY  AND  RESPONSIBILITY 

I  HAVE  endeavoured,  in  the  previous  chapter,  to 
show  how  the  doctrine  of  heredity  may  serve  to 
emphasize  some  of  the  great  words  of  the  Christian 
faith.  But,  as  I  also  pointed  out,  it  may  be  taught 
in  such  a  form  as,  practically,  to  empty  life  of  all 
moral  significance.  Indeed  it  is  (as  a  moment's 
reflection  will  show)  around  the  idea  of  "  account- 
ability "  that  all  the  more  serious  problems  arising 
out  of  the  doctrine  naturally  group  themselves  ; 
and  it  is  to  the  consideration  of  some  of  these 
that  I  wish  us  now  briefly  to  address  ourselves. 
Taking  for  granted  the  facts  of  heredity,  how  do 
they  affect  our  ideas  of  moral  responsibility  ? 
The  answer  may  be  given  in  threefold  form  : 
Heredity  may  increase,  heredity  may  diviinish, 
heredity  can  never  destroy  a  man's  responsibility. 

(i)  Heredity  may  increase  a  man's  responsi- 
bility. This  is  true  if  we  think  of  man  only  as 
a  son,  related  to  and  deriving  from  the  past. 
For    if  we    inherit    evil    do    we    not    also    inherit 


154  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

good  ?  And  if  he  is  to  be  pitied  and  to  be  dealt 
tenderly  with,  who,  through  no  fault  of  his  own, 
enters  upon  a  grievous  heritage  of  woe,  is  not  he 
to  be  visited  with  stern  condemnation  who,  reap- 
ing a  rich  harvest  which  other  hands  have  sown, 
wastes  his  inheritance  in  riotous  living  ?  It  is 
our  boast  sometimes  that  we  are  "  the  heirs  of 
all  the  ages  "  ;  and  as  is  the  good  of  life  which 
thus  unmerited  has  come  to  us,  so  also  is  our 
responsibility ;  for  here,  as  everywhere  else,  re- 
sponsibility is  but  the  other  half  of  privilege. 
But  man  is  not  only  the  child  of  yesterday,  he  is 
the  parent  of  to-morrow;  he  is  not  only  the 
centre  in  v/hich  are  focussed  the  rays  of  the  past, 
he  is  a  new  centre  whence  new  influences  radiate 
forth  into  the  future.  Heredity,  like  the  old 
Roman  god  Janus,  looks  both  ways.  If  the  sins 
of  the  fathers,  in  which  we  had  no  share,  are 
visited  upon  us,  so  also  do  the  consequences  of 
our  deeds  fall  upon  those  who  come  after  us  ; 
and  if  by  reason  of  the  one  fact  the  bands  of 
responsibility  be  in  any  degree  slackened,  by 
reason  of  the  other  they  are  strengthened  and 
tightened  anew.  So  that,  as  Dr.  Denney  says, 
in  words  which  I  have  already  quoted,  when  we 
take  the  laws  and  facts  of  heredity  in  all  their 
extent,  they  give  mystery  and  immensity  to  the 
spiritual  life  of  man,  they  widen  enormously  the 
range  of  his  responsibility. 

(2)     Nevertheless,     there     are     cases     where 
heredity   may  count   as    a   mitigating   factor.      It 


Heredity  and  Responsibility  155 


may  be  false  and  mischievous,  as  Mr.  Bagehot 
has  said,  to  speak  of  "  hereditary  vice,"  but  "  it  is 
most  true  and  wise  to  observe  the  mysterious  fact 
of  hereditary  temptation."  Drunkenness,  e.g.^  is  a 
terrible  sin,  but  sometimes  it  is  also  a  disease,  for 
which  the  sufferer  himself  is  not  responsible  ;  then, 
surely,  we  may  mingle  pity  with  our  condemna- 
tion and  leave  the  rest  with  God.  When  Christ 
declared  that  in  the  last  great  day  it  should  be 
"  more  tolerable  "  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  than 
for  the  Cities  of  the  Plain,  He  clearly  taught  us 
that  in  the  Divine  judgment  all  the  facts  and 
conditions  of  man's  moral  life  are  taken  into 
account,  that  responsibility  is  proportioned  to 
opportunity.  "  Each  one  of  us  shall  give  account 
of  himself  to  God  " ;  and  if  it  be,  as  we  sometimes 
say,  that  there  are  some  who  never  "had  a  chance" 
in  life,  then  it  is  of  their  life  without  its  "  chance  " 
that  they  will  give  account.  If  to  one  heredity 
has  proved  a  blessing  and  to  another  a  curse, 
God  will  not  forget  the  fact,  however  man  may 
ignore  it.  God  asks  not  only  to  what  does  a 
man  reach  ?  but,  where  did  he  start  ?  He  marks 
not  only  the  victories  men  win,  but  the  odds  in 
the  face  of  which  men  fight,  the  moral  effort  that 
is  put  forth.  And  many  a  time  where  our  eyes 
have  seen  only  the  shame  and  disaster  of  seeming 
defeat,  the  "  larger  eyes  "  of  God  have  marked  the 
ceaseless  if  often  thwarted  struggle  to  cast  off  the 
yoke  and  bondage  of  sin.  Therefore,  in  face  of 
the  mystery  of  our  life,  which  deepens  with  our 


156  A  Young  Mails  Religion 

knowledge,  this  lesson  let  us  learn,  that  where 
we  cannot  know,  we  may  not  and  we  must  not 
judge  ;  and  this  confidence  let  us  cherish,  that 
the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do  right  where  we 
cannot  even  see  what  is  right. 

(3)  Heredity  may  increase,  heredity  may 
diminish,  heredity  can  never  destroy  a  man's 
responsibility.  It  is  here  that  we  join  issue  with 
much  that  is  said,  and  still  more  that  is  implied, 
in  our  current  literature.  The  doctrine  of  heredity 
has  so  completely  taken  possession  of  the  minds 
of  some  that  to  them  man  is  nothing  more  than 
a  bundle  of  transmitted  tendencies,  the  resultant 
of  antecedent  forces,  a  projectile  shot  forth  from 
the  past  whose  path  might  be  determined  with 
almost  mathematical  accuracy,  did  we  but  know 
the  exact  measure  of  the  hereditary  forces  working 
within  him.  The  undoubted  facts  of  heredity  are 
emphasized  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  facts,  as 
though  in  them,  and  in  them  alone,  were  the  key 
to  the  whole  mystery  of  the  life  of  man. 

Now  when  men  come  to  think  thus,  it  is 
obvious  they  will  make  short  work  of  all  ideas 
of  moral  responsibility.  Indeed,  they  tell  us 
plainly  that  whether  we  are  wise  or  foolish, 
whether  we  are  good  or  evil,  depends  wholly 
upon  "  a  combination  of  circumstances  over  which 
we  ourselves  have  no  control."  It  is  absurd  to 
talk  about  men's  "  sins "  ;  we  ought  rather  to 
speak  of  their  "  diseases."  Bad  men  are  not 
"  sinners,"    they   are   only    invalids.      We   do    not 


Heredity  and  Responsibility  1 5  7 

condemn  a  man  because  he  has  the  misfortune 
to  be  born  a  hunchback  ;  why  then  should  we 
blame  him  because,  like  his  father  before  him,  he 
suffers  from  some  villainous  crook  in  the  temper  ? 
Crime,  says  Mr.  Edward  Bellamy,  is  really  a 
case  of  "atavism,"  or  the  recurrence  of  an  ancestral 
trait,  which,  in  plain  English,  means  this  :  that  a 
man  is  no  more  responsible  for  what  we  call  his 
"  sin  "  than  he  is  responsible  for  the  colour  of  his 
hair  or  the  shape  of  his  nose.  "  The  strong 
nature,  the  vivid  imagination,  the  tender  con- 
science, the  firm  will,"  says  one  writer  of  this 
school,  "  all  come  by  inheritance,  as  much  as 
money  in  the  funds,  or  a  noble  demesne  of  broad 
acres."  "  There  is  a  destiny  made  for  a  man  by 
his  ancestors,"  says  another,  "  and  no  one  can 
elude  the  tyranny  of  his  organization." 

Most  of  us  have  heard,  and  some  of  us  perhaps 
have  joined  in,  the  strong  protestations  that,  in 
the  name  of  morality,  used  to  be  urged  against 
the  old  Calvinistic  doctrine  of  the  Divine  decrees. 
Indeed,  there  was  a  time  when  every  ignoramus 
thought  himself  competent  to  pick  a  hole  in  the 
seamless  robe  of  Calvin's  faith.  But  here  is  the 
astonishing  fact,  that  now,  when  Calvinism  is  re- 
laxing its  hold  on  the  intellectual  life  of  Christen- 
dom, some  of  its  least  worthy  elements  are  being 
asserted  anew  in  the  name  of  modern  science. 
For  what  is  this  doctrine  that  man  is  only  a  piece 
of  nature,  a  nut,  a  screw,  a  wheel  in  the  vast 
mechanism  of  the  universe,  but  (as  Dr.  Dale  used 


158  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

to  say)  Calvinism  over  again,  but  Calvinism  with- 
out God  ?  And  whatever  doubt  there  be  as  to 
the  influence  on  morality  of  the  older  creed,  there 
can  be  none  as  to  the  consequences  of  the  later. 
If  sin  is  to  be  thought  of  only  as  a  case  of  atavism, 
the  recurrence  of  an  ancestral  trait,  a  misfortune 
to  be  deplored  like  an  awkward  gesture  or  an  un- 
happy trick  of  speech,  and  not  as  sin^  demanding 
the  penitence  of  man  and  the  forgiveness  of  God, 
there  is  an  end,  at  once  and  for  ever,  of  all  religion 
and  morality  alike. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  these  moral  per- 
plexities arising  out  of  the  relation  of  the  individual 
to  the  sins  of  the  fathers  are  as  old  as  Ezekiel  and 
the  days  of  the  Exile.  Two  thousand  five  hundred 
years  ago  men  felt  the  pressure  of  the  same  facts 
and  put  upon  them  the  same  sinister  interpreta- 
tion. The  exiles  in  Babylon,  conscious  that  the 
calamities  which  had  fallen  on  their  nation  were 
due,  in  large  measure,  to  wrong-doing  in  which 
they  had  not  been  partakers,  suffered  themselves 
to  settle  down  into  a  kind  of  despairing  fatalism 
which  found  expression  in  the  familiar  proverb  : 
"  The  fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes  and  the 
children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge  "  (Ezek.  xviii.  2). 
Our  fathers'  sins,  they  said,  have  fixed  our  destiny  ; 
of  what  use  is  it  to  strive  against  the  inexorable 
fate  that  binds  us  ? 

The  prophet's  answer  is  to  be  found  in  the 
eighteenth  chapter  of  his   prophecy.      It  may  be 


Heredity  and  Responsibility  159 

urged  that  the  answer  is  incomplete,  that  it  touches 
one  side  of  the  problem  only  ;  yet  it  is  adequate 
for  its  purpose.  Ezekiel,  it  should  be  remembered, 
was  not  holding  an  academic  dispute  on  the 
relation  of  heredity  to  moral  responsibility ;  he 
was  dealing  with  an  actual  case  and  dealing  with 
it  practically,  as  a  preacher  of  righteousness.  His 
answer  is  not  meant  to  be  a  complete  philosophy 
of  responsibility,  but  to  stop  the  mouths  of  men 
who  pleaded  the  sins  of  their  fathers  as  an  excuse 
for  their  own  wrong-doing,  to  strike  off  the  shackles 
of  their  despair,  and  to  lead  them  to  repentance. 
The  prophet  does  not  deny  that  the  consequences 
of  sin  descend  from  father  to  son  \  what  he  does 
deny  is  that  they  constitute  a  man's  destiny.  To 
that  end  his  whole  argument  moves,  and  so  inter- 
preted it  is,  I  believe,  as  valid  for  us  to-day  as  it 
was  for  the  exiles  in  Babylon.  The  prophet 
meets  the  Jewish  fatalists  with  two  great  truths 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Lord. 

(i)  "Behold,  all  souls  are  Mine";  that  is  to 
say,  every  individual  soul  is  related  to  God.  We 
are  related  to  the  past,  and  on  this  relation  those 
to  whom  Ezekiel  spoke  laid  all  the  emphasis  ;  but 
we  are  also  related  to  God.  We  derive  from  the 
past ;  but  that  which  we  derive  from  the  past  is 
not  the  whole  of  us  ;  we  derive  also  from  God  : 
"  As  the  soul  of  the  father,  so  also  the  soul  of  the 
son  is  Mine."  Weighted  as  we  may  be  by  sins 
which  are  not  our  own,  we  have  each  of  us  a  moral 
life,  which  is  our  own,  derived  direct  from  God. 


1 60  A  Yotmg Mans  Religion 

If,  on  one  side,  I  am  linked  with  a  sinful  human 
ancestry  and  so  rooted  in  nature,  on  the  other 
side  I  stand  in  a  Divine  lineage,  and  am  rooted 
in  God.  If,  as  one  writer  happily  puts  it,  the 
world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil  held  mortgages  on 
my  life  before  the  title-deeds  were  put  into  my 
hands,  thank  God,  He  also  holds  a  mortgage,  and 
His  is  greater  than  theirs.  Therefore,  to  think  of 
ourselves  as  only  so  many  bundles  of  transmitted 
tendencies  is  to  ignore  all  in  us  that  is  greatest, 
all  that  makes  us  most  truly  ourselves. 

(2)  The  prophet's  second  word  is  the  natural 
corollary  of  his  first :  "  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it 
shall  die  ;  the  son  shall  not  bear  the  iniquity  of 
the  father,  neither  shall  the  father  bear  the  iniquity 
of  the  son  ;  the  righteousness  of  the  righteous 
shall  be  upon  him,  and  the  wickedness  of  the 
wicked  shall  be  upon  him."  That  is  the  charter 
of  spiritual  individualism.  It  is  never  our  past 
that  condemns  us.  Our  past  can  be  our  ruin  only 
in  so  far  as  we  ally  ourselves  with  it  and  make  it 
our  own.  We  are,  as  I  have  said,  related  to  the 
past  ;  and  therefore  the  facts  of  heredity  cannot 
be  denied,  and  must  not  be  overlooked.  But  this 
is  not  the  whole  truth  concerning  us  ;  if  it  were, 
it  would  be  as  idle  to  talk  about  moral  responsi- 
bility as  writers  like  I\Ir.  Cotter  Morison  declare 
that  it  is.  We  are  also  related  to  God,  and 
through  that  relationship  the  strength  and  grace 
of  God  can  come  to  us.  And  it  is  that  double 
fact  that  constitutes  our  responsibility ;   we   can 


Heredity  and  Responsibility  1 6 1 


choose,  we  can  take  sides.  And  it  is  when, 
consciously  and  deliberately,  we  take  the 
evil  that  is  in  us  to  be  our  portion,  or  when, 
shirking  the  struggle  altogether,  we  leave  evil 
in  undisputed  possession  of  the  field,  it  is 
then,  and  only  then,  that  we  stand  con- 
demned before  God.  "The  soul  that  sinneth 
it  shall  die." 

Such,  in  brief,  was  Ezekiel's  message  to  the 
men  of  his  day.  Let  us  see  if  we  can  gather  any 
confirmation  of  it. 

(i)  I  turn  again,  first  of  all,  to  the  Bible,  for, 
assuredly,  no  book  has  a  better  right  to  be  heard. 
There  is  no  book  in  all  the  world  that  knows  me 
up  and  down  and  through  and  through,  that  can 
talk  to  me  about  myself,  like  this  book.  What, 
then,  saith  the  Scripture?  It  is  a  very  tender, 
gracious,  pitiful  book.  Stern,  bleak  heights  it 
shows,  and  black,  sunless  depths  ;  but  even  the 
depths  are  fringed  with  sweet  flowers,  and  the 
heights  stand  in  the  warm,  soft  sunlight.  "  He 
hath  not  dealt  with  us  after  our  sins,  nor  rewarded 
us  after  our  iniquities.  ...  He  knoweth  our 
frame;  He  remembereth  that  we  are  dust."  There 
is  no  book  in  all  the  world,  "  to  make  allowance 
for  us  all,"  like  the  Bible ;  "  there  is  no  place 
where  earth's  failings  have  such  kindly  judgment 
given."  Yes  ;  but  the  Bible  never  mouths  and 
mumbles  its  words  when  it  talks  about  sin  ;  it 
never  calls  bad  men  "  invalids."  In  the  book  sin 
is  alwa}'s  black,  horrible,  devilish.      This  hand  that 

M 


1 62  A  Yo2ing  Mans  Religion 

hath  done  it  all  the  perfumes  ■  of  Arabia  cannot 
sweeten  ;  the  soul  that  is  stained  by  it  all  great 
Neptune's  ocean  cannot  wash  clean  again.  There 
must  be  blood,  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God, 
before  that  "  damned  spot "  in  the  soul  of  man 
will  "  out."  That  is  the  speech  of  the  whole  book 
concerning  sin. 

(2)  And  even  if  we  pay  no  heed  to  the  Scrip- 
tures at  all,  there  are  still  a  hundred  witnesses  out 
of  whose  mouths  the  word  of  Ezekiel  may  be 
established.  That  man  is  not  the  victim  of  fate, 
that  he  is  free  to  choose,  that  he  is  responsible  for 
his  choice — on  that  basis  all  our  life,  our  very 
language,  is  built  up.  We  speak  sometimes  of 
''  dissipated "  men  ;  why  do  we  never  speak  of 
"  dissipated  "  animals  ?  We  urge  upon  ourselves, 
upon  our  children,  and  upon  others  the  duty  of 
cultivating  what  we  call  "  habits  of  self-control." 
But  when  a  man  is  breaking  in  a  young  horse  or 
taming  wild  animals,  how  much  does  he  trust  to 
their  "  self-control  "  ?  Does  he  not  know  that  the 
only  control  to  which  they  will  submit  is  his  con- 
trol, the  control  of  the  rein,  and  the  spur,  and  the 
whip?  It  is,  indeed,  this  self-determining  power, 
the  power  to  turn  his  life  this  way  or  that,  which 
makes  man  what  he  is,  separate  from  the  beasts 
of  the  field.  We  may  prate  as  we  please  about 
"  the  irresistibility  of  inherited  instincts  "  and  the 
like,  but  every  time  a  father  sends  his  child  supper- 
less  to  bed  for  telling  an  untruth,  every  time  society 
sends  a  man  to  prison  for  a  theft,  our  theories  are 


Heredity  and  Responsibility  163 

quietly  put  on  the  shelf  and  forgotten.  All  our 
penal  institutions  bear  witness  to,  and  all  society 
is  organized  on  the  presumption  of,  the  freedom 
and  responsibility  of  man. 

(3)  And  if  from  facts  like  these,  which  may 
be  said  to  voice  the  universal  consciousness,  we 
turn  to  question  our  own  individual  consciousness, 
the  answer  is  final,  absolute,  irresistible ;  I  know 
I  am  free,  I  know  I  can  choose,  I  know  I  am 
responsible  for  my  choice.  Men  may  drug  their 
souls  with  moral  sophistries,  they  may  twist  and 
torture  the  testimony  of  consciousness  as  they 
will,  it  obstinately  refuses  to  yield  any  other 
judgment  than  this.  "  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O 
God,  according  to  Thy  loving -kindness  ;  accord- 
ing to  the  multitude  of  Thy  tender  mercies  blot 
out  my  transgressions.  Wash  me  throughly  from 
mine  iniquity,  and  cleanse  me  from  my  sin.  For  I 
acknowledge  my  transgressions  ;  and  my  sin  is 
ever  before  me."  See  how  the  penitent  heaps 
word  upon  word  to  describe  the  evil  that  he  has 
done ;  and  it  is  all  his :  my  transgressions,  my 
iniquity,  my  sin.  And  even  when  he  calls  to 
mind  the  tainted  stock  from  which  he  sprang — 
"  Behold,  I  was  shapen  in  iniquity,  and  in  sin  did 
my  mother  conceive  me " — he  does  so  not  to 
excuse,  but  rather  to  magnify  his  fault.  Ah!  yes, 
we  may  plead  "  taints  of  blood  "  or  "  sour  grapes  " 
so  long  as  conscience  is  asleep  ;  but  when  con- 
science is  awake  and  has  us  by  the  throat  we 
speak  the   language  of  the  penitent  Psalmist :  "  I 


1 64  A  Young  Man  s  Religion 


acknowledge  my  transgressions  and  my  sin  is  ever 
before  me." 

"  Our  wills  are  ours,  we  know  not  how  " — we 
cannot  solve  the  mystery  of  our  freedom,  yet  we 
are  as  sure  of  it  as  of  our  existence — "  our  wills 
are  ours,  to  make  them  Thine."  The  peace  that 
follows  righteousness,  the  remorse  that  follows 
wrong-doing,  the  honour  that  everywhere  men 
pay  to  self-sacrifice,  the  kindling  indignation  with 
which  we  listen  to  some  story  of  base  cunning 
and  cruel  wrong,  the  passionate  thrill  that  stirs  a 
whole  people  when  a  deed  is  done  for  freedom, 
when  a  blow  is  struck  for  truth — these  things 
which,  as  Dr.  Dale  has  said,  are  among  the  most 
splendid  and  the  most  awful  experiences  of  human 
life,  and  which  are  just  as  real  as  the  motions 
of  the  planets,  or  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tides, 
can  be  understood  only  if  man  is  free  to  choose 
'twixt  truth  and  falsehood,  for  the  good  or  evil 
side. 

If,  therefore,  we  are  living  in  conscious  re- 
bellion against  the  law  of  God,  the  plea  of 
heredity  will  not  serve  us.  We  cannot,  and  we 
know  we  cannot,  slip  our  necks  out  of  the  collar 
of  responsibility  in  that  easy  fashion.  Heredity, 
as  Dr.  Denncy  has  said,  may  determine  ^(^  form 
in  which  temptation  shall  come  to  a  man — 
whether  as  intemperance  or  lust  or  greed  or 
duplicity — but  the  issue  of  the  temptation  rests 
with  the  man  himself.  Occasion  without  and 
inclination    within    may   join    hands    in    one    dire 


Heredity  and  Responsibility  165 

confederacy  against  my  soul,  but  all  power  in 
heaven  and  on  earth  is  not  theirs,  and  if  I  yield, 
the  guilt  is  mine.  Heredity  is  not  fate  ;  if  any 
man  is  tempted  to  believe  it  is,  let  him  resist  the 
temptation  as  he  would  resist  the  devil.  "  Return 
ye,  and  turn  yourselves  from  all  your  transgres- 
sions ;  so  iniquity  shall  not  be  your  ruin.  Cast 
away  from  you  all  your  transgressions,  wherein  ye 
have  transgressed  ;  and  make  you  a  new  heart 
and  a  new  spirit :  for  why  will  ye  die,  O  house  of 
Israel?"  (Ezek.  xviii.  30,  31).  What  is  the 
meaning  of  these  tender  entreaties  on  the  lips 
of  God  ?  Do  they  not  assure  us  that  bad  as 
our  past  may  be,  we  can  break  with  it  if  we 
will  ?  Dr.  Amory  Bradford  (of  America)  says 
that  he  once  read  a  paper  on  heredity  in  the 
presence  of  a  man  who  to-day  is  in  the  front 
rank  of  his  profession.  Before  the  reading  had 
ceased  the  hearer  was  called  out  of  the  room. 
When  he  was  gone  there  was  found  on  the  table 
by  which  he  had  been  sitting  a  scrap  of  paper 
with  these  words,  "  That  is  true,  and  my  heredity 
is  all  pure  devil."  But  he  had  determined  that 
the  devil  in  him  should  be  chained,  and  chained 
he  had  been,  and  now,  says  Dr.  Bradford,  "  with 
full  many  a  tendency  to  base  living,  he  walks 
the  earth  everywhere  useful  and  deservedly 
honoured." 

"  If  there  be  a  devil  in  man,  there  is  an  angel 
too."  Let  us  give  heed  no  more  to  the  mutterings 
of  the  devil,  but  answer  rather  to  the  angel's  call. 


1 66  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

Let  us  shake  ourselves  free  from  the  evil  past. 
Let  us  break  up  the  long  torpor  of  indifference 
and  cowardice,  and  show  ourselves  men.  If  we 
will  we  can. 

"  So  nigh  is  grandeur  to  our  dust, 
So  near  is  God  to  man, 
When  Duty  whispers  low.  Thou  must, 
The  youth  replies,  I  can." 


HEREDITY   AND   GRACE 


"  The  more  clearly  the  conditions  and  laws  of  heredity  are  brought 
to  light,  the  more  hopeless  are  we  likely  to  becof?ie,  both  as  regards  our 
own  moral  welfare  and  as  regards  the  character  of  God,  which  is 
involved  in  that  ?noral  welfare,  .  .  .  and  I  have  long  thought  that 
if  we  have  not  a  gospel  against  heredity,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
we  have  any  gospel  at  all." — ^J.  Rendel  Harris. 

' '  0  wretched  matt  that  I  am  I  who  shall  deliver  me  out  of  the 
body  of  this  death  1  I  thank  God  through  fesus  Christ  our  Lord^ — 
St.  Paul. 


XI 

HEREDITY  AND   GRACE 

IN  the  previous  chapter  a  strong  protest  has 
been  made  against  the  idea  that  a  man's  fate 
is  fixed  by  his  past,  that  heredity  destroys  respon- 
sibility. Nevertheless,  it  remains  true,  there  is  a 
curse  in  birth.  On  that  point  science  and  religion 
are  of  one  mind  and  speak  with  one  voice.  We 
all  come  of  a  tainted  stock  ;  we  are  all  members 
of  a  race  which  sin  has  corrupted.  What,  then, 
is  the  remedy?  Is  there  any  remedy?  And  if 
there  be,  must  man  provide  it  for  himself,  or  is  it 
provided  for  him  ?  You  tell  me  that  I  am  born 
with  a  hereditary  bias  towards  evil  ;  and  I  cannot 
deny  it.  I  know  that  you  are  right.  You  tell  me 
that,  notwithstanding,  I  am  a  responsible  being, 
responsible  to  man,  responsible  to  God  ;  and  again 
I  cannot  deny  it.  I  know  that  you  are  right.  But 
is  that  all?  Is  there  nothing  more  to  be  said?  Can 
anything,  can  any  one  deliver  me  out  of  the  body 
of  this  death,  or  am  I  shut  up  for  ever  to  the  poor 
resources  of  my  own  sin-cursed  nature  ?  That  is 
the  question  to  which  now  we  must  seek  an  answer. 


170  A  Yoimg  Mail  s  Religion 


(i)  Some  of  our  modern  teachers  answer  the 
question  in  very  short  and  summary  fashion.  If, 
say  they,  a  man  is  bad,  it  is  because  he  is  "  made 
so,"  and  there  is  no  help  for  it ;  and  certainly  we 
are  not  going  to  mend  matters  by  preaching  to 
him  about  his  responsibility.  But  society,  in  its 
own  interests,  has  a  right  to  exclude  such  a  man 
from  its  fellowship  and,  at  the  first  convenient 
opportunity,  get  rid  of  him  altogether.  Lest  any 
one  should  think  I  am  exaggerating  I  will  quote 
Mr.  Cotter  Morison's  own  words  :  "  The  sooner," 
he  says,  "  it  is  perceived  that  bad  men  will  be 
bad,  do  what  we  will,  though,  of  course,  they  may 
be  made  less  bad,  the  sooner  shall  we  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  welfare  of  society  demands 
the  suppression  or  elimination  of  bad  men,  and 
the  careful  cultivation  of  the  good  only.  This  is 
what  we  do  in  every  other  department.  We  do 
not  cultivate  curs  and  screws  and  low  breeds  of 
cattle.  On  the  contrary,  we  keep  them  down  as 
much  as  we  can.  What  do  we  gain  by  this  fine 
language  as  to  moral  responsibility?  The  right 
to  blame  and  so  forth.  Bad  men  are  not  touched 
by  it.  The  bad  man  has  no  conscience  ;  he  acts 
after  his  malignant  nature.  The  fear  of  sharp 
punishment  may  deter  him  from  evil-doing,  and 
quell  his  selfish  appetites  ;  but  he  will  not  be 
converted  to  virtue  by  our  telling  him  he  has 
moral   responsibility,  that   he   is   a   free   agent  to 


Heredity  and  Grace  1 7 1 

choose  good  or  evil,  and  that  he  ought  to  choose 
the  good.  His  mind  is  made  up  to  choose  the 
bad.  But  society,  knowing  its  own  interests,  has 
a  right  to  exclude  him  from  its  fellowship  ;  not 
only  to  prevent  and  punish  his  evil  actions,  but  to 
suppress  him  in  some  effectual  way,  and,  above 
all,  prevent  his  leaving  a  posterity  as  wicked  as 
himself." 

There  you  have  the  latest  materialistic  gospel 
of  the  extermination  of  the  unfit  And,  revolting 
as  it  sounds,  it  is  but  the  logical  issue,  frankly 
stated,  of  the  materialistic  doctrine.  If  a  man  is 
only  what  his  ancestors  have  made  him,  if  he  is 
only  a  piece  of  nature  with  no  more  responsibility 
than  the  beasts  of  the  field,  then,  perhaps,  society 
is  warranted  in  dealing  with  him  accordingly, 
though  one  would  like  to  know  what  the  results 
of  the  process  of  extermination  are  likely  to  be 
on  the  exterminators  themselves.  But  at  least  it 
is  an  advantage  to  be  shown  thus  plainly  the 
steep  place  into  the  sea  down  which  the  upholders 
of  this  doctrine  are  prepared  to  lead  us  as  soon 
as  we  are  prepared  to  follow  them. 

(2)  Another  way  of  dealing  with  the  problem 
of  hereditary  evil  is  to  work  for  the  redemption  of 
the  environment.  The  facts  of  heredity,  it  is 
urged,  are  beyond  us ;  if  a  man  is  born  of 
debauched  and  dissolute  parents,  we  cannot  help 
it  ;  but,  at  least,  we  may  see  to  it  that  unfavour- 
able conditions  of  life  do  not  minister  to  and 
strengthen  the  inborn  tendency  to  vice  ;  and   so, 


172  A  Young  Man  s  Religion 

by  the  creation  of  a  healthier  environment,  we 
may  be  able  to  modify,  if  not  wholly  to  neutralize, 
the  evil  influences  of  the  past. 

The  truth  and  reasonableness  of  such  a  plea 
every  one  will  recognize.  It  is  in  this  direction 
that  lie  some  of  the  most  urgent  problems  that 
await  the  wisdom  and  energy  of  the  Christian 
statesman.  Overcrowding,  insanitary  dwellings, 
long  and  exhausting  hours  of  labour,  the  multi- 
plication of  drink -shops  —  these  things  do  not 
necessarily  make  men  vicious,  but  they  make  the 
way  of  vice  easy.  It  may  be  true  that  we  cannot 
make  men  moral  by  Act  of  Parliament ;  neverthe- 
less. Acts  of  Parliament  can  do  very  much  to 
make  impossible  conditions  of  life  which  invite 
and  induce  immorality.  It  is  not  enough  that 
Christian  philanthropy  pick  up  one  by  one  the 
victims  of  our  social  wrongs  ;  Christian  statesman- 
ship must  lay  its  firm,  strong  hand  on  the  causes 
which  fling  them  helpless  upon  our  streets.  And 
happily,  this  is  what,  in  increasing  measure,  is 
to-day  being  done.  The  public  conscience  is 
being  awakened,  and  hosts  of  devoted  men  and 
women,  throughout  our  whole  land,  are  seeking, 
by  the  creation  of  healthier  and  happier  conditions 
of  life,  to  tame  and  subdue  the  demons  of  vice. 

But  do  not  let  us  deceive  ourselves.  The  real 
problem  is  not  the  environment,  but  the  man. 
You  may  change  the  one,  but  if  you  do  not 
change  the  other,  it  will  avail  us  nothing,  for  the 
unchanged  bad  man  will  speedily  bring  back  again 


Heredity  and  Grace  173 


all  the  old  bad  conditions.  And  no  one  knows 
that  so  well  as  those  who  have  done  most  to 
improve  the  social  condition  of  the  people.  A 
distinguished  canon  of  the  Anglican  Church  who 
has  given  many  of  the  best  years  of  his  life  to 
work  among  the  poor  of  the  East  End  of  London, 
was  addressing,  in  Whitechapel,  some  years  ago, 
a  meeting  of  men  and  women  engaged  like  him- 
self in  promoting  social  reform.  He  reminded 
them  how  their  fathers  had  built  their  hopes  on 
the  Suffrage,  on  Free  Trade,  and  on  National 
Education.  Now  we  have  these  things,  and  what 
has  come  of  them  ?  he  asked.  The  extension  of 
the  suffrage  has  done  good,  but  it  has  not  justified 
men's  hopes  concerning  it ;  Free  Trade  has  given 
us  a  cheap  loaf,  but  it  has  not  solved  the  problem 
of  the  unemployed  ;  and  even  National  Education, 
after  a  generation  has  been  through  our  schools, 
has  still  left  our  streets  filled  with  a  mob  of  care- 
less youths,  and  our  labour  market  overstocked 
with  workers  whose  work  is  not  worth  fourpence 
an  hour.  "  No,"  concluded  the  speaker,  "  it  is  not 
laws  and  institutions  which  save  a  city — it  is 
persons.  Institutions  are  good,  just  in  so  far  as 
they  are  vivified  by  personal  action  ;  laws  are 
good  just  in  so  far  as  they  allow  for  the  free  play 
of  person  on  person.  There  may  be  need  of 
reform  in  institutions  and  in  laws,  so  as  to  give  to 
all  an  open  career  and  equality  of  opportunity, 
but  it  is  persons  who  save  ;  and  if  to-day  fifty — 
a  company  of — righteous  men  could  be  found  in 


174  ^  Young  Mans  Religion 

London,  the  city  might  be  spared  and  saved." 
By  all  means  let  us  work  for  the  redemption  of 
the  environment,  but  let  us  never  forget  that  we 
have  still  to  find  the  redeemed  man  worthy  to  live 
and  to  walk  in  it. 

(3)  Then  let  us  make  our  appeal  to  the  man 
himself;  let  us  speak  to  that  better  self  which 
still  lives,  even  in  the  worst.  "  If  there  be  a 
devil  in  man,  there  is  an  angel  too  "  ;  let  us  wake 
the  slumbering  angel.  Does  a  man  fight  against 
fearful  odds  ?  Then  the  louder  is  the  call  to  him 
to  play  the  man,  to  break  his  birth's  invidious 
bar,  to  breast  the  blows  of  circumstance  and 
grapple  with  his  evil  star.  It  is  a  right  worthy 
and  noble  appeal.  "  Quit  you  like  men  :  be 
strong "  ;  the  old  words  thrill  us  through  every 
fibre  of  our  being  ;  where,  we  wonder,  is  the  soul 
that  will  not  answer  to  a  call  like  that  ?  But  I 
think  of  men  far  gone  in  sin,  "  carnal,  sold  under 
sin,"  men  who  have  yielded  themselves  to  it  until 
they  have  become  its  helpless  bond-slaves.  And 
now,  "  when  Duty  whispers  low.  Thou  must," 
they  can  only  make  answer,  "  I  would,  I  would, 
but  I  cannot ;  iniquities  are  too  strong  for  me." 
It  is  of  no  avail  to  bid  such  a  man  throw  off  his 
brute  inheritance,  to 

"  Move  upwards,  working  out  the  beast, 
And  let  the  ape  and  tiger  die." 

He  might  have  done  it  once  ;  but  for  years  he 
has    fondled  the   beast,  and    fed   it  with  his  own 


Heredity  and  Grace  175 

hand,  and  now  its  terrible  paw  is  on  his  back, 
and  he  is  helpless.  Conscience,  the  captain  on 
the  bridge,  still  gives  his  commands,  but  the  will, 
the  man  at  the  helm,  is  stunned  and  cannot  obey. 
And  I  say,  that  if  when  it  has  come  to  that,  we 
have  nothing  more  to  say  than  to  bid  a  man 
exert  and  save  himself,  we  had  better  hold  our 
peace.  When  Mr.  Cotter  Morison  tells  us  that 
a  man  will  not  be  converted  to  virtue  by  our 
telling  him  he  has  moral  responsibility,  that  he 
is  a  free  agent  to  choose  good  or  evil,  and  that 
he  ought  to  choose  the  good,  for  once  we  may 
agree  with  him.  Evil  habits  that  have  grown 
with  our  growth  and  strengthened  with  the 
strength  of  years  are  not  to  be  met  and  mastered 
by  appeals,  however  stirring  and  noble  they  may 
be. 

II 

Then  what  is  the  remedy,  and  whence  cometh 
our  help  ?  Our  need  is  clear  :  it  is  for  a  change 
not  so  much  in  our  surroundings  but  in  ourselves. 
This  is  our  prayer — 

"  Oh  for  a  man  to  arise  in  me, 
That  the  man  I  am  may  cease  to  be." 

When  first  the  sense  of  evil  stirs  within  us,  we 
repent  of  what  we  have  done  ;  but  when  we  come 
truly  to  know  ourselves,  we  repent  of  what  we  are.^ 
It  is  within  us,  in  our  nature,  that  evil  has  its 
seat,  and  it  is  within   us,  to  our  nature,  that  the 

^  See  Dr.  Denney's  admirable  Studies  in  Theology,  p.  S3. 


176  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

remedy  must  be  applied.  It  is  not  outward 
reformation  that  we  need,  but  inward  renewing  ; 
not  x^-formation^  indeed,  of  any  kind,  but  re- 
generation.  "  Ye  must  be  born  again."  There  is 
a  curse  in  birth,  and  the  only  cure  for  it  is  the 
re-birth. 

What  do  we  mean  by  "  regeneration  "  ?  "  The 
simplest  and  most  obvious  account  of  regenera- 
tion," says  Dr.  Dale,  "  is  the  truest.  When  a  man 
is  regenerated  he  receives  a  new  life,  and  receives 
it  from  God.  In  itself,  regeneration  is  not  a 
change  in  his  old  life,  but  the  beginning  of  a  new 
life  which  is  conferred  by  the  immediate  and 
supernatural  act  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  man 
is  really  '  born  again.'  A  higher  nature  comes  to 
him  than  that  which  he  inherited  from  his  human 
parents  ;  he  is  '  begotten  of  God,'  *  born  of  the 
Spirit.' " 

Does  some  one  ask,  with  Nicodemus,  "  How 
can  these  be  ? "  we  can  only  answer  that  we  do 
not  know  ;  the  mystery  of  the  new  birth  can  no 
man  solve  :  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth, 
and  thou  hearest  the  voice  thereof,  but  knoweth 
not  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth  :  so  is 
every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."  But  if  the 
manner  of  the  great  change  be  inexplicable,  the 
fact  is  indubitable.  When  we  speak  of  the  work 
of  the  risen  Christ,  and  the  contemporary  activities 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  facts  of  regeneration 
and  the  powers  which  are  freeing  men  from  sin, 
we    may,  as   Professor   Drummond  has    said,   use 


Heredity  and  Grace  177 

language  not  less  scientific,  not  less  justified  by 
fact,  than  when  we  speak  in  the  terms  of  science 
of  the  operations  and  processes  of  the  natural 
world.  "  There  is,"  he  adds,  "  a  great  experiment 
which  is  repeated  every  day,  the  evidence  for 
which  is  as  accessible  as  for  any  fact  of  science  ; 
its  phenomena  are  as  palpable  as  any  in  nature  ; 
its  processes  are  as  explicable,  or  as  inexplicable  ; 
its  purpose  is  as  clear,"  viz.  the  great  spiritual  fact 
we  call  conversion. 

"  If  any  man  is  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature: 
the  old  things  are  passed  away  ;  behold,  they  are 
become  new."  This  is  the  simplest  statement  of 
an  experience  which,  as  a  distinguished  student 
and  teacher  of  science  once  declared,^  has  been 
testified  to  by  countless  millions  of  civilized  men 
and  women  in  all  nations  and  all  degrees  of 
culture.  Every  day  new  witnesses  arise  to  declare 
with  St.  Paul,  "  The  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in 
Christ  Jesus  made  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin 
and  of  death."  Every  day  new  voices  join  in  the 
great  doxology  of  St.  John  "  Unto  Him  that  loveth 
us  and  loosed  us  from  our  sins  by  His  blood." 
Let  us  give  ear  for  a  moment  to  some  of  their 
testimonies. 

"  From  a  child,"  writes  John  Bunyan,  "  I  had 
but  few  equals,  both  for  cursing,  swearing,  lying, 
and  blaspheming  the  holy  name  of  God.  Yea,  so 
settled  and  rooted  was  I  in  these  things,  that  they 

^  The  late  Prof.  G.  J.  Romanes  in  his  interesting  Thoughts  on 
Religion. 


178  A  Young  Mails  Religion 

became  as  a  second  nature  to  me.  .  .  .  Until  I 
came  to  the  state  of  marriage,  I  was  the  very 
ringleader  of  all  the  youth  that  kept  me  company, 
in  all  manner  of  vice  and  ungodliness."  Such 
John  Bunyan  was  ;  what,  by  the  grace  of  God,  he 
became,  all  the  world  knows. 

Nowhere,  perhaps,  have  we  a  finer  "  experi- 
mental theology "  than  may  be  read  in  the  best 
hymns  of  the  great  Evangelical  Revival  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  When  converted  Cornish 
miners  and  Kingsvvood  colliers  sang — 

"  He  breaks  the  power  of  cancelled  sin, 
He  sets  the  prisoner  free," 

the  deepest  experience  of  their  whole  life  was 
finding  a  voice  for  itself.  Like  Peter  chained 
between  the  soldiers,  they  too  had  been  in  bond- 
age, and  they  sang — 

"  Long  my  imprison'd  spirit  lay 

Fast  bound  in  sin  and  nature's  night "  ; 

but  to  them,  as  to  the  apostle,  God  had  sent  His 
delivering  angel,  and  once  more  they  sang — 

"Thine  eye  diffused  a  quickening  ray, 

I  woke,  the  dungeon  flamed  with  light ; 
My  chains  fell  off,  my  heart  was  free, 
I  rose,  went  forth,  and  followed  Thee." 

And  though  there  be  no  Charles  Wesley  now  to 
translate  the  experience  into  immortal  song,  the 
experience  is  still,  thank  God,  being  every  day 
repeated  in   our   midst.      I   turn   to  the  beautiful 


Heredity  and  Gi^ace  179 

Letters  of  James  Smetham,  and  find  him  writing 
of  St.  Paul's  Epistles  :  "  All  that  unutterable  sense 
of  sin,  that  terrible  deadly  fight  with  evil,  those 
strivings  of  the  Spirit  I  went  through,  and  more  : 
all  that  deliverance,  that  liberty  of  the  Gospel, 
that  being  justified  by  faith  in  Christ,  that  peace 
with  God,  that  shedding  abroad  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  of  the  love  of  God  in  the  heart,  that  com- 
ing in  of  the  '  new  creation ' ;  all  the  shades  and 
lights  of  experience  since  then.  Twenty-three 
years  of  such  experience,  which  inwardly  is  as 
great  and  as  simple  a  fact  as  the  facts  of  seeing 
and  hearing,  make  me  unable  to  receive,  even  to 
/^rceive  any  other  interpretation.  And  I  have 
met  with  such  scores  and  hundreds  who  strike 
hands  with  me  in  life  and  death  on  these  great 
matters  that  it  is  settled  '  without  controversy ' 
to  me." 

And  then  from  the  words  of  the  cultured  and 
gifted  artist,  I  turn  to  this  simple  testimony  of  a 
reclaimed  Lancashire  drunkard  :  "  Religion,"  he 
said,  "  has  changed  my  home,  my  heart,  and  you 
can  all  see  it  has  changed  my  face.  I  hear  some 
of  those  London  men  call  themselves  Positivists. 
Bless  God,  I  am  a  Positivist.  I'm  positive  God, 
for  Christ's  sake,  has  pardoned  my  sins,  changed 
my  heart,  and  made  me  a  new  creature."  ^ 

But  when  Mr.  Cotter  Morison  comes  across  a 
fact  like  this  he  is  simply  bewildered  ;  he  does  not 

1  Quoted  in  Prof.  W.  T.  Davison's   Christian  Interpretation  of 
Life^  p.  272. 


1 8o  A  Youno-  Mans  Relicrion 

know  what  to  make  of  it.  "  We  can  never  tell/'  he 
writes  in  amazement,  "  whether  the  greatest  sinner 
now,  may  not  become  the  greatest  saint  before 
the  end  "  ;  and  he  is  perfectly  right,  we  never  can 
tell.  "  This  unknown  factor  of  Grace,"  he  con- 
tinues, stumbling  against  the  truth  without  know- 
ing it,  "  vitiates  all  calculation."  Undoubtedly  it 
does ;  the  fact  could  not  be  better  stated  ;  there  is 
nothing  to  compare  with  the  surprises  of  Divine 
erace.  God  flino^s  Himself  athwart  the  track  of 
a  man's  life,  and  behold,  as  Bishop  Hall  says  of 
the  penitent  robber,  "  he  that  in  the  morning  was 
posting  towards  hell  is  in  the  evening  with  Christ 
in  Paradise."      Such  wonders  grace  can  do  ! 

But  when  the  plastic  days  of  youth  are  gone, 
when  life  has  got  its  "  set,"  when  tendency  and 
habit  have  joined  hands — what  then  ?  "  Can  a 
man  be  born  when  he  is  old  ?  "  Yes,  thank  God, 
he  can.  Is  it  not  written,  "  The  man  was  more 
than  forty  years  old  on  whom  this  miracle  of 
healing  was  wrought "  ?  And  God,  who  works 
the  greater  miracles  of  grace,  is  heedless  of  the 
years  of  sin.  "  As  many  as  received  Him,  to 
them  gave  He  the  right  to  become  children  of 
God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  His  name." 
Let  us  receive  Him,  let  us  believe  on  Him,  and 
we  shall  be  "  begotten  of  God,"  made  partakers  of 
the  Divine  nature. 


THE  GIBRALTAR   OF   PROTESTANTISM 


"  Wherefore  it  is  very  necessary  that  this  doctrine  \of  faith'\  be  kept 
in  continual  practice  and puilic  exercise,  both  of  reading  and  hearing. 
And  although  it  be  never  so  well  known,  never  so  exactly  learned,  yet 
the  devil,  who  continually  rangeth  about,  seeking  to  devour  us,  is  not 
dead.  Likewise  our  fiesh  and  old  man  is  yet  alive.  Besides  this,  all 
kinds  of  temptations  do  vex  and  oppress  us  on  every  side  ;  wherefore, 
this  doctrine  can  never  be  tatight,  urged,  and  repeated  enough.  If 
this  doctrine  be  lost  there  is  also  the  doctrine  of  truth,  life,  and  salva- 
tion, lost  and  gone.  If  this  doctrine  flouj'ish,  then  all  good  things 
flourish  ;  religion,  the  true  service  of  God,  the  glory  of  God,  the  right 
hiowledge  of  all  things  which  are  necessary  for  a  Christian  man  to 
i^w^w."— Martin  Luther. 


XII 
THE   GIBRALTAR   OF  PROTESTANTISM 

ST.  PAUL'S  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  is  very 
closely  linked  with  the  most  painful  con- 
troversy of  the  apostle's  life  ;  and  to  understand 
the  epistle  it  is  necessary  to  know  something  of 
the  controversy.  It  came  about  in  this  way. 
The  first  Christians  were  Jews,  and  in  becoming 
Christians  did  not  cease  to  be  Jews.  Just  as  the 
early  Methodists  were  at  first  a  sect  within  the 
larger  Anglican  Church,  so  the  first  Christians 
were  a  sect  within  the  larger  Jewish  Church,  to 
whose  ritual  and  customs  they  in  all  things  con- 
formed. But  as  gradually  the  Church  pushed 
back  its  frontier,  at  first  timidly  and  tentatively, 
but  afterwards,  under  the  leadership  of  St.  Paul, 
boldly  and  with  the  conviction  of  a  world-wide 
mission,  the  question  necessarily  arose :  what 
about  the  Gentiles  who  accepted  the  Christian 
faith  ?  Must  they  also  be  circumcised  and 
charged  to  keep  the  whole  law  of  Moses  ?  Must 
they  become  Jews  in  order   that  they  might  be- 


1 84  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

come  Christians  ?  The  question  was  answered 
in  the  vision  that  was  granted  to  Peter  of  the 
vessel  let  down  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  in  the 
conversion  of  Cornelius  the  Roman  centurion  and 
his  household.  It  was  answered  again,  and  this  time 
in  the  most  formal  and  solemn  manner  possible, 
by  the  unanimous  finding  of  the  Council  of  Jeru- 
salem. And  each  time  the  answer  was,  "  No  ;  not 
by  the  law  of  Moses,  but  by  the  grace  of  Jesus 
Christ,  are  men  saved  ;  therefore,  circumcision 
profiteth  us  nothing."  But  even  the  decision  of 
the  Jerusalem  Council  did  not  close  the  question, 
nor  silence  the  controversy. 

We  may  be  astonished  at  this  short-sighted 
provincialism  that  would  have  kept  the  w^orld 
within  the  tiny  measurements  of  its  own  little 
tape-line  ;  but  when  we  remember  the  past  history 
of  the  Jews,  and  when  we  see  how  slow  nations 
still  are  to  believe  anything  that  cuts  against  the 
grain  of  national  pride  and  national  prejudice,  it 
is  no  great  marvel  that  many  Jewish  Christians 
should  have  thought  that  Jerusalem  was  still  to 
be  the  centre  of  the  whole  earth,  and  the  Messiah 
who  had  come  but  the  Head  of  a  bigger  Judaism. 
And  so  the  Judaizers,  as  Paul's  opponents  were 
called,  went  on  with  their  work.  Not  content 
with  resisting  the  spread  of  the  wider  faith 
at  home,  they  organized  an  active  propaganda 
for  checking  its  progress  abroad.  Emissaries 
from  Jerusalem  crept  into  the  Gentile  churches 
which  the  apostle  had   founded  ;  they  denied   his 


The  Gibraltar  of  Protestantism       185 

av.thority,  they  discredited  his  gospel,  they  sowed 
the  seed  of  dissension  broadcast,  and  in  many 
cases  succeeded  in  alienating  his  converts  both 
from  him  and  the  faith  which  he  preached. 

It  was  to  counteract  evil  influences  such  as 
these,  in  the  churches  of  Galatia,  that  Paul  wrote 
this  letter.  It  is  at  once  an  appeal  and  a  thunder- 
bolt, an  appeal  to  his  converts,  a  thunderbolt 
against  their  betrayers  ;  and  appeal  and  thunder- 
bolt alike  come  hot  from  his  heart.  Surprise, 
grief,  love,  indignation — all  commingle  in  one 
hurrying  tide.  The  apostle  instructs,  he  argues, 
he  warns,  he  remonstrates  ;  he  exhausts  all  the 
resources  of  logic,  of  Scripture,  and  of  experience  ; 
and  when  these  seem  but  cold  and  ineffectual — 
when  the  pent-up  waters  of  his  heart  can  find  no 
other  channel  for  themselves — he  breaks  through 
all  restraint,  and  flings  himself  at  the  feet  of  his 
converts  as  if  he  would  stay  them  by  the  tender 
violence  of  love  :  "  My  little  children,"  he  cries, 
"  of  whom  I  am  again  in  travail  until  Christ  be 
formed  in  you,  I  could  wish  to  be  present  with 
you  now,  for  I  am  perplexed  about  you." 


The  Jewish  emissaries,  I  have  said,  not  only 
assailed  the  apostle's  doctrine,  they  denied  his 
authority.  Indeed,  it  was  part  of  their  plan  to 
damage  the  message  by  discrediting  the  messenger. 
Paul  has,  therefore,  to   defend  both  himself  and 


1 86  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

his  Gospel,  and  his  Gospel  through  himself.  This 
personal  apologetic  is  the  subject  of  the  first  two 
chapters  of  the  epistle.  With  chapter  three  begins 
the  doctrinal  polemic.  Let  me  fix  attention  for 
a  moment  on  two  of  the  lines  of  argument  by 
which  the  apostle  urges  his  readers  to  stand  fast 
in  the  faith  of  Christ. 

(i)"Ye  that  have  come  to  know  God,"  he 
says,  "  or  rather  to  be  known  of  God,  how  turn 
ye  back  again  to  the  weak  and  beggarly  rudi- 
ments ? "  (iv.  9).  The  whole  movement  is  retro- 
grade, it  is  a  "  turning  back,"  a  reversion  to  an 
earlier  and  less  perfect  type  of  religion.  Judaism 
had  its  day  and  did  its  work,  "  but  Christ  having 
come,"  its  day  is  past,  its  work  is  done  ;  it  has 
no  longer  a  place  in  the  world,  and  for  Christian 
men,  men  who  "  have  come  to  know  God "  in 
Christ,  to  seek  to  revive  it,  is  to  put  back  the 
hands  of  the  world's  clock,  it  is  to  violate  all  ideas 
of  true  progress.  So  runs  the  apostle's  argument ; 
let  us  listen  while  he  illustrates  it. 

"  The  law,"  he  says,  "  hath  been  our  TratSayco- 
709  to  bring  us  to  Christ"  (iii.  24).  It  is  almost 
impossible  to  translate  the  word  Paul  uses,  because 
that  which  it  represents  does  not  now  exist  amongst 
us.  "  Schoolmaster  "  (A.V.)  is  clearly  misleading  ; 
and  "  tutor  "  (R.V.),  though  probably  the  best,  is  by 
no  means  an  exact  rendering.  "  The  '  pedagogue,'  " 
says  Professor  Findlay,  "  was  a  sort  of  nursery 
governor, — a  confidential  servant  in  the  Greek 
household,  commonly  a   slave,  who  had   charge  of 


The  Gibraltar  of  Protestantism       187 

the  boy  from  his  infancy,  and  was  responsible  for 
his  oversight.  In  his  food,  his  clothes,  his  home- 
lessons,  his  play,  his  walks — at  every  point  the 
pedagogue  was  required  to  wait  upon  his  young 
charge,  and  to  control  his  movements."  And  this, 
says  the  apostle,  is  what  hitherto  the  law  hath 
been  to  us  ;  "  but,"  he  goes  on,  "  now  that  faith 
is  come,  w^e  are  no  longer  under  a  tutor  ; "  and 
shall  we,  he  asks  in  amazement,  who  are  "  sons  of 
God,  through  faith,  in  Christ  Jesus,"  who  have 
outgrown  the  petty  regulations  of  the  peda- 
gogue, deliberately  submit  ourselves  again  to  his 
authority  ? 

Again,  Paul  takes  the  case  of  a  son  who  is 
his  father's  heir  (iv.  i  sq?).  During  the  years  of 
his  minority  he  is  "  under  guardians  and  stewards," 
so  that  "  he  differeth  nothing  from  a  bond-servant, 
though  "  in  reality  "  he  is  lord  of  all."  But  when 
the  time  "  appointed  of  the  father  "  is  fulfilled,  he 
enters  into  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  sonship. 
Similarly,  argues  the  apostle,  the  world  before 
Christ  came  was  in  its  nonage,  "  under  the  law  "  ; 
but  now  that  "  the  fulness  of  the  time  "  has  come, 
we  have  received  "  the  adoption  of  the  sons."  And 
can  it  be  we  are  so  foolish,  that,  when  all  the 
rights  of  sonship  are  ours,  we  still  hanker  after 
the  old  days  of  bondage  "  under  guardians  and 
stewards  "  ?  The  whole  character  and  history  of 
the  law  reveal  its  temporary  purpose,  and  to  go 
back  upon  it  now  would  be  utterly  to  frustrate 
the  Divine  idea. 


1 88  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

"  Moreover,"  Paul  says  to  the  Galatians  (as 
we  to-day  have  often  to  say  to  our  High  Anglican 
friends),  "  if  you  will  go  back,  take  care  you  go 
back  far  enough."  The  Judaizers  made  much  of 
Moses  and  of  the  Law  ;  but  before  Moses  was 
Abraham,  before  the  Law  was  the  Promise — the 
promise  that  in  Abraham  should  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  be  blessed.  That  promise  still 
stands,  and  that  it  may  be  fulfilled  Christ  has 
died,  that  by  His  death  He  might  redeem  us 
from  the  curse  of  the  law,  and  that  so  "  upon  the 
Gentiles  might  come  the  blessing  of  Abraham  in 
Christ  Jesus." 

(2)  But  a  movement  towards  Judaism  is  not 
only  a  backward  movement,  it  is  needless,  since 
Christ  Himself  is  all-sufficient  for  man's  salvation. 

Salvation  is  not  to  be  found  in  Christ  plus 
circumcision,  or  any  other  fragment  of  Judaism, 
but  in  Christ  alone.  To  seek  to  eke  out  the 
work  of  the  world's  Redeemer  with  some  poor 
Judaic  rite  is  to  make  void  the  grace  of  God,  of 
none  effect  the  Cross  of  Christ,  Salvation  can- 
not be  both  of  grace  and  of  works  ;  the  two  ideas 
are  mutually  exclusive.  "  Ye  who  would  be 
justified  by  the  law,"  Paul  tells  the  Galatians 
plainly,  "  are  severed  from  Christ ;  ye  are  fallen 
away  from  grace."  And  if,  as  their  new  teachers 
declared,  righteousness  is  "  through  the  law,"  this 
is  what  it  means  :  "  Christ  died  for  nought " — 
the  path  ends  in  a  precipice,  and  Calvary  that  we 
thought  the  world's  one  hope  becomes  instead  its 


The  Gibraltar  of  Protestantism       i 


most  tragic  blunder  :  "  Behold,  I,  Paul,  say  unto 
you,  that,  if  ye  receive  circumcision,  Christ  will 
profit  you  nothing." 

But  Christ  might  be  to  them  everything.  This 
was  the  Gospel  given  to  him  of  God  to  proclaim 
unto  every  man  ;  this  was  the  Gospel  which  he 
had  himself  received  and  verified  in  his  own 
experience  ;  ay,  and  it  was  the  Gospel  that  once 
they,  too,  had  believed,  and  whose  power  they 
had  proved.  "  Tell  me  this  one  thing,"  he  says, 
"  Received  ye  the  Spirit  by  the  works  of  the  law, 
or  by  the  hearing  of  faith  ?  "  Let  them  go  back 
upon  their  past  and  question  it,  and  then  let 
them  say  if  all  of  power  and  peace  and  blessed- 
ness that  had  come  into  their  lives  had  not  come 
and  come  alone  by  faith  in  Christ. 

This,  then,  was  Paul's  message  to  his  waver- 
ing disciples  in  Galatia,  his  answer  to  the  false 
teachers  of  Jerusalem.  So  far  as  the  latter  are 
concerned,  it  is  satisfactory  to  learn  that  the 
epistle  abundantly  accomplished  its  purpose. 
Never  again  did  Paul  need  to  write  such  a  letter 
as  this  ;  the  Judaizers  were  crushed  and  silenced  ; 
their  movement  came  to  an  end  ;  and  Christianity, 
that  but  for  Paul  might — speaking  after  the 
manner  of  men — have  dwindled  into  the  religion 
of  an  obscure  Jewish  sect,  was  saved  for  the  race, 
and  set  free  for  its  world-wide  mission. 

But  though  the  old  controversy  which  called 
this  epistle  into  life  is  dead  and  buried,  no  mould 
gathers    about   the    epistle    itself;    it   is    still    the 


1 90  A  Yozmg  Mans  Religion 

word  of  God,  quick  and  powerful,  with  its  message 
for  us  to-day  no  less  than  for  those  to  whom  it 
was  first  sent.  Before,  however,  I  turn  to  speak 
of  that,  let  us  pause  for  a  moment  to  note  how 
inseparably  this  epistle  is  linked  with  the  name 
of  Martin  Luther  and  the  great  days  of  the 
Reformation. 

II 

After  the  days  of  the  apostles  the  Church  of 
Christ  fell  gradually  away  from  the  simplicity  of 
its  early  faith.  Human  agents  and  agencies 
thrust  themselves  between  the  soul  and  its  Saviour, 
until,  bit  by  bit,  there  was  built  up  a  vast  ecclesi- 
astical institution  which  claimed  to  be  the  sole 
dispenser,  on  its  own  terms,  of  the  favours  and 
mercies  of  Heaven.  The  Church,  as  one  recent 
writer  has  happily  put.  it,  constructed  a  trem.endous 
apparatus  "  through  which  the  sinful  soul  was 
passed,  like  the  rags  into  a  paper-mil!,  to  come 
out,  after  a  long  and  terrible  discipline,  white  and 
pure  at  the  other  end."  Then,  in  due  time,  came 
the  Reformation,  when  the  primitive  Christian 
idea,  the  very  truth  of  the  New  Testament,  was 
rediscovered  in  the  experience  of  a  human  soul. 
For  when  Martin  Luther  realized  that  salvation  is 
by  faith  in  the  mercy  of  God  revealed  to  us  in 
Christ,  he  swept  aside  the  priest  and  the  whole 
system  of  things  of  which  the  priest  is  the  centre, 
and  the  Reformation  had  begun.  And  one  of 
the  chief  instruments  used   by  God   to  effect  this 


The  Gibraltar  of  Protestantisiu       1 9 1 

mighty  revolution,  first  in  the  soul  of  Luther,  and 
afterwards  in  the  soul  of  Europe,  was  our  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians,  which  has  well  been  called 
"  The  Gibraltar  of  Protestantism."  Among  all 
the  epistles  it  was  always  Luther's  favourite  :  "  It 
is  my  epistle,"  he  said  ;  "  I  have  betrothed  myself 
to  it ;  it  is  my  wife."  Or,  to  use  a  very  different 
figure,  it  was  the  armoury  from  which  he  drew 
the  weapons  for  his  holy  war,  "  the  gun-shot  and 
artillery "  with  which  he  destroyed  the  papacy  ; 
and  among  the  great  religious  books  of  the  world 
Luther's  Commentary  on  the  Galatians  will  always 
keep  a  first  place. 

Thomas  Boston  of  Ettrick,  one  of  the  ablest 
men  who  ever  stepped  into  a  Scottish  pulpit,  had 
only  a  scanty  library — readers  of  his  Autobiography 
will  remember  the  passage  in  which  he  tells  us 
how  it  touched  him  to  the  quick  when  one  day 
a  visitor  smiled  as  he  peeped  into  the  poorly- 
furnished  book -press  in  the  little  manse — but 
among  the  few  volumes  there  was  Luther  on  the 
Galatians,  which,  he  says,  "  I  was  much  taken 
with."  And  every  student  of  John  Bunyan  re- 
members the  famous  passage  in  which  he  tells  us 
how  God,  "  in  whose  hands  are  all  our  days  and 
ways,"  did  cast  into  his  hand  one  day  this  book 
by  Martin  Luther.  It  was  only  an  old  and  worn 
copy,  "  so  old  that  it  was  ready  to  fall  piece  from 
piece,  if  I  did  but  turn  it  over  "  ;  but  as  he  read 
its  torn  and  soiled  pages,  it  seemed,  he  says,  "  as 
if  his   book  had   been  written   out   of  my  heart." 


192  A  Yo2tng  Mans  Religion 

"  And  this,"  he  goes  on,  "  I  must  let  fall  before  all 
men,  I  do  prefer  this  book  of  Martin  Luther  upon 
the  Galatians  (excepting  the  Holy  Bible),  before 
all  the  books  that  ever  I  have  seen,  as  most  fit  for 
a  wounded  conscience."  Let  every  student  who 
would  understand  the  secret  of  the  Reformation, 
and  every  man  who  desires  healing  for  the  wounds 
of  his  conscience,  keep  Luther's  great  Commentary 
at  his  elbow. 

Ill 

I  return  to  the  epistle  and  its  message  for  the 
Church  of  Christ  to-day.  "  But  what  has  a  letter 
like  this  to  do  with  us  ?  We  are  in  no  danger 
from  Judaism  ;  nobody  troubles  us  about  circum- 
cision." True  ;  yet  the  ritualist  and  sacerdotalist 
of  the  nineteenth  century  are  in  the  direct  line  of 
descent  from  these  men  who  disturbed  the  peace 
of  the  Galatian  Christians,  and  at  the  present 
moment  they  are  troubling  us  more  than 
enough.  Dr.  Forsyth  declares,  with  equal  severity 
and  truth,  that  the  modern  priest  is  "  a  Jew  in 
soul,"  and  that  modern  priestism  is  really  a  kind 
of  perpetuated  Judaism,  an  attempt  "  to  bring  in  at 
the  window  the  reign  of  Law  which  St.  Paul,  in 
Christ's  name,  turned  out  at  the  door." 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  phenomena  in 
the  history  of  religion  is  the  strange  fascination 
of  the  ritualist.  "  O  foolish  Galatians,"  exclaims 
St.  Paul,  "  who  hath  bewitched  you  ?  "  The  word 
contains    a    striking    metaphor,    "  derived,"    says 


The  Gibraltar  of  Protestantism       193 

Bishop  Lightfoot,  "  from  the  popular  behef  in  the 
power  of  the  evil  eye,"  the  blighting  influence 
which,  it  was  supposed,  certain  persons  were  able 
to  cast  over  those  on  whom  their  glance  fell.  No 
more  fitting  word  could  have  been  used  in  such 
a  context.  Many  to-day  are  so  "  bewitched  "  by 
the  spells  of  the  ritualist  that  they  utterly  fail  to 
realize  the  issues  that  are  at  stake  ;  they  cannot 
understand  what  all  the  Protestant  pother  is 
about,  and  whatever  may  be  the  sins  of  the 
ritualistic  curate,  they  think  they  are  all  covered 
by  his  abounding  zeal  and  multitudinous  phil 
anthropies.  Yet,  unless  the  reasoning  of  this 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians  be  wholly  wide  of  the 
mark,  it  is  the  Gospel  itself  that  is  at  stake.  The 
men  who  opposed  Paul,  let  it  be  remembered, 
believed  in  Christ ;  but  they  held  that  circumcision 
as  well  as  Christ  was  necessary  to  salvation.  Our 
modern  Catholics — Roman  or  Anglican — likewise 
believe  in  Christ  ;  but  they,  too,  deny  the  sole 
sufficiency  of  Christ.  Salvation,  they  tell  us,  can 
only  be  administered  by  a  particular  organization, 
through  the  priest  and  the  Church, — their  priest, 
and  their  church, — without  these  we  have  nothing 
to  hope  for  but  the  poor  crumbs  of  "  uncovenanted 
mercies."  Now,  what  is  this  but  the  old  cry  of 
the  Judaizer  over  again  :  "  Except  ye  be  circum- 
cised, ye  cannot  be  saved "  ?  It  is  the  virtual 
denial  of  the  sufficiency  of  Christ  for  the  salvation 
of  them  that  trust  in  Him.  And,  I  repeat,  with 
this  epistle    in   my  hand,  they   that   affirm    these 

O 


1 94  A  Yo2mg  Mans  Religion 

things  take  away  my  Gospel ;  and  it  is  no  answer 
and  no  comfort  to  me  to  be  told  that  they  are 
zealous  philanthropists. 

A  recent  Anglican  expositor,  I  observe,  states 
that  what  St.  Paul  meant  by  this  letter  to  teach 
was  this  :  "  That  religious  acts  and  exercises  are 
dangerous,  and  may  become  destructive,  when 
they  are  deliberately  adopted  as  substitutes  for 
spiritual  character!'  That  such  a  warning  may 
very  fittingly  be  addressed  to  Christian  men,  no 
one  will  deny  ;  but  to  say  that  this  was  the  aim 
of  the  epistle  before  us  is  to  miss  the  point  of  the 
whole  argument.  The  relation  of  religious  rites 
and  exercises  to  spiritual  character  was  not  in  the 
apostle's  mind  ;  and  if  any  one  had  interrupted  him 
in  the  midst  of  his  letter  to  assure  him  that  many 
of  his  Judaizing  opponents  were  men  of  estimable 
personal  character,  I  think  he  would  have  brushed 
the  objection  aside  as  a  chattering  irrelevance. 
What  he  affirms  is,  that  when  any  religious  rite 
or  observance  or  institution  is  made  co-ordinate 
with  Christ  as  essential  to  salvation,  he  will 
tolerate  it,  no,  not  for  an  hour,  at  any  price,  or 
on  any  terms. 

With  freedom  did  Christ  set  us  free  ;  let  us 
stand  fast,  therefore,  and  refuse  to  be  entangled 
again  in  the  yoke  of  ceremonialism.  To  all  our 
modern  Judaizers,  to  them  that  observe  days  and 
months  and  seasons,  who  are  greatly  exercised 
concerning  the  lawfulness  of  incense  and  the  sin 
of  evening  communion,  who  think  there  can   be 


The  Gibraltar  of  Protestantism       1 9  5 


no  church  where  there  is  no  bishop,  who  Uve  and 
move  and  have  their  being  among  the  things  that 
are  seen  and  temporal,  we  make  answer  with  the 
Apostle  Paul :  "  Ye  that  have  come  to  know  God, 
how  turn  ye  back  again  to  the  weak  and  beggarly 
rudiments  ? "  Your  whole  movement  is  a  back- 
ward movement;  ye  are  as  grown-up  men  that 
go  back  to  the  ABC  picture-book  of  their  child- 
hood ;  ye  are  chasing  mere  will-o'-the-wisps  of 
the  night,  and  behold,  the  sun  is  up  !  Let  us, 
who  are  the  children  of  the  day,  turn  our  faces  to 
God's  light. 

And,  above  all,  let  us  believe  and  let  us  pro- 
claim the  sufficiency  of  Christ.  We  need  no 
confessional,  for  we  know  of  One  who  hath  power 
on  earth  to  forgive  sins.  We  seek  no  infallible 
Church  or  infallible  Pope,  for  we  hold  the  promise 
of  the  Spirit  who  will  guide  us  into  all  truth. 
We  look  for  no  Christ  bodily  present  on  the  altar, 
through  the  wonder-working  power  of  the  priest, 
for  we  have  a  Presence  not  less  "  real "  because 
unseen  in  every  faithful  heart. 

"  Yea,  thro'  life,  death,  thro'  sorrow  and  thro'  sinning. 
He  shall  suffice  me,  for  He  hath  sufficed  ; 
Christ  is  the  end,  for  Christ  was  the  beginning, 
Christ  the  beginning,  for  the  end  is  Christ." 

He  is  able  to  save  "  unto  the  uttermost!'  Who 
can  add  anything  to  Christ's  "  uttermost  "  ?  Who 
has  needs  that  "  uttermost "  cannot  reach  ? 

Thou,  O  Christ,  art  ALL  I  want. 


CONCERNING  "GETTING  ON" 


'•'■  She  told  me  dreadful  thhigs  abotd  the  demoralizing  power  of 
riches  in  otir  tijne.'''' 

' '  Dreadftd  things  !  What  were  they,  Winnie  ?  " 
"  She  told  me  how  insatiable  is  the  greed  for  pleasure  at  this  time. 
She  told  me  that  the  passion  of  vanity — '  the  greatest  of  all  the  human 
passions,''  as  she  tised  to  say — has  taketi  the  form  of  money-worship  in 
our  time,  sapping  all  the  noblest  instincts  of  men  and  women,  and  iti 
rich  people  poisotting  even  parental  affections,  making  the  mother 
thirst  for  the  pleasu7-es  which  in  old  days  she  would  only  have  tried 
to  win  for  her  child.  She  told  me  stories — dreadful  stories — about 
children  with  expectations  of  great  wealth  who  watched  the  poor  grey 
hairs  of  those  who  gave  them  birth,  and  counted  the  yeai's  and  months 
and  days  that  kept  them  from  the  gold  which  juodern  society  finds  to 
be  more  p7-ecious  than  honour,  family,  he?-oism,  genius,  and  all  that 
was  held preciotis  in  less  materialized  times.  She  told  me  a  thousand 
other  things  of  this  kind,  a?id  when  I  g)-ew  older  she  put  ijito  viy 
hand  what  has  been  writteji  on  the  subject.'''' 

Theodore  Watts-Dunton's  "Aylwin." 


XIII 

CONCERNING  "GETTING  ON" 

«  JjyHAT  shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain 
the  zuhole  world,  and  lose  his  oivn  soul  ?  " 
A  man  might  ask  that  question  who  did  not  know 
the  value  of  the  world  ;  a  man  might  ask  it  who 
did  not  know  the  value  of  the  soul.  But  He  who 
first  asked  it  knew  the  value  of  both.  He  knew 
the  world's  worth,  for  He  made  it.  He  knew  the 
soul's  worth,  for  He  not  only  made  it,  but  died 
for  it ;  and  He  says  that  a  man  may  get  till  he 
has  gained  the  whole  world,  but  if  the  price  that 
he  pays  for  it  be  his  own  soul — himself — he  is 
the  loser.  For,  after  all,  the  supreme  question  is 
not  what  a  man  has,  but  what  a  man  is.  I  may 
gather  about  me  all  manner  of  goodly  things,  but 
these  are  not  me  ;  the  soul  cannot  eat  and  drink, 
and   amid   all   the   heaped-up   splendours   it   may 

starve  and  die.     "  They  say  that is  worth 

;^  1 0,000  a  year."  I  beg  your  pardon,  a  man 
may  be  worth  little  or  much,  but  whatever  it  be 
it   is    not   to   be   stated   in   terms   of  the  market. 


200  A  Yottng  Maris  Religion 

What  we  have,  that  is  one  thing  ;  what  we  are 
worth,  that  is  another  and  wholly  different  thing. 
Have  ye  not  read,  "  A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in 
the  abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth"? 

But,  first  of  all,  let  us  clear  our  minds  of  cant. 
There  is  a  fluent  depreciation  of  wealth,  and  an 
equally  fluent  appreciation  of  poverty,  in  which 
some  persons,  who  are  in  danger  of  neither,  are 
very  apt  to  indulge.  It  is  time  to  put  an  end  to 
these  glib  insincerities.  Poverty  is  not  a  blessing 
but  a  curse.  That  some  good  men  have  been 
miserably  poor  is  nothing  to  the  point ;  it  was 
not  their  poverty  that  made  them  good.  "  Man 
shall  not  live  by  bread  alone  "  ;  neither  can  he  live 
without  it,  and  when  all  his  days  and  hours  are 
consumed  in  one  fierce  struggle  to  obtain  it,  what 
wonder  if  sometimes  he  grow  hard  and  bitter? 
We  shudder  at  the  coarse,  cunning  faces  that 
sometimes  pass  us  on  the  street,  but  what  kind 
of  a  look  would  our  faces  wear  if  we  had  little 
children  at  home  crying  for  bread,  and  for  days 
together  we  knew  not  where  the  next  meal  was 
to  come  from  ?  "  Long  live  hunger  !  Long  live 
sorrow  !  Long  live  pain  !  In  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Amen."  Nay,  indeed,  it  is 
in  His  name  that  we  are  to  fig-ht  these  things, 
until  He  shall  have  put  all  His  enemies  under 
His  feet. 

On  the  other  hand,  let  it  also  be  clearly 
understood  that,  often  as  wealth  and  worth  are 
severed,  wealth   may  be  one  of  worth's  outward 


Concerning  "  Getting  On  "  201 

and  visible  signs.  The  large  income  of  one  of 
our  "  captains  of  industry "  (as  Carlyle  used  to 
name  them) ;  the  increase  in  the  salary  of  a 
youth  who  by  his  alertness  and  fidelity  has  made 
himself  not  only  useful  but  indispensable  to  his 
employers  ;  the  savings  of  the  skilful,  thrifty,  and 
industrious  workman — all  these  (though  one  could 
wish,  by  the  way,  that  there  were  not  so  great  a 
gap  between  the  income  of  the  capitalist  and  that 
of  the  workman)  are  not  only  the  just  and  natural 
reward  of  work  well  done  ;  they  are,  so  far  as  in 
their  nature  they  can  be,  representative  of  sterling 
qualities  of  mind  and  character.  Speaking  gener- 
ally, the  lazy,  the  thriftless,  and  the  dishonest  sink 
down  lower  and  lower,  as  it  is  meet  and  right  they 
should  ;  but  the  honest,  the  careful,  and  the  hard- 
working rise  up  higher  and  higher,  and  this  also  is 
meet  and  right.  The  difference  in  the  position  of 
the  two  classes  in  the  scale  of  social  well-being  is 
a  roughly  accurate  index  to  underlying  differences 
of  character. 

Let  all  this,  both  on  the  one  side  and  on  the 
other,  be  admitted  and  emphasized  as  it  ought  to 
be.  Nevertheless,  there  is  no  graver  peril  that 
menaces  our  life  to-day,  either  as  a  nation  or  as 
individuals,  than  the  practical  materialism  which 
like  a  dry  rot  is  spreading  among  all  ranks  and 
classes  of  society. 

"We  must  run  glittering  like  a  brook 
In  the  open  sunshine,  or  we  are  unblest : 
The  wealthiest  man  among  us  is  the  best ; 


202  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

No  grandeur  now  in  nature  or  in  book 
Delights  us.      Rapine,  avarice,  expense. 
This  is  idolatry,  and  these  we  adore. 
Plain  living  and  high  thinking  are  no  more  : 
The  homely  beauty  of  the  good  old  cause 
Is  gone  ;  our  peace,  our  fearful  innocence 
And  pure  religion  breathing  household  laws." 

It  is  nearly  a  century  since  Wordsworth's 
noble  sonnet  was  written,  but  the  intervening 
years  have  only  given  a  sharper  point  to  the 
poet's  warning.  A  short  time  ago,  it  is  said,  a 
wealthy  South  African  was  dining  at  a  London 
house,  when  he  was  asked  by  one  of  the  company 
what  was  his  chief  ambition  in  life.  '  "  My  chief 
ambition,"  said  he,  "  is  to  leave  a  million  to  each 
of  my  children."  There  is  the  disease  which  is 
eating,  "  as  doth  a  canker,"  at  the  heart  of  the 
whole  English-speaking  world  to-day. 

Now  do  not  grow  impatient  and  say  that 
whatever  South  African  millionaires  may  do,  we 
are  not  likely  to  cherish  any  such  wild  ambitions  ; 
that,  indeed,  we  might  as  well  cry  for  the  moon 
at  once.  I  am  not  in  the  habit,  I  hope,  of 
preaching  to  congregations  that  are  not  there ; 
and  my  words  just  now  are  not  meant  for  million- 
aires, but  for  all  young  men  who  may  read  these 
pages.  Not  on  the  Stock  Exchange  merely,  but 
in  all  the  walks  of  life  do  we  need  to  write  up 
Christ's  great  searching  question  :  "  What  shall 
it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world, 
and  lose  his  own  soul  ? "  For,  alas !  the  fatal 
materializing    of    life    is    going    on     everywhere. 


Concerning  **  Getting  On  "  203 

Instead  of  praying  the  wise  man's  prayer  :  "  Give 
me  neither  poverty  nor  riches  ;  feed  me  with  the 
food  that  is  needful  for  me,"  we  open  wide  our 
mouths  to  snatch  at  every  glittering  bait  that 
dangles  before  us. 

Every  week  the  working  men  and  women  of 
this  country  fling  away  thousands  of  pounds  out 
of  their  hard-earned  wages,  on  the  chance  that 
some  horse  which  they  never  saw,  and  of  which 
they  know  absolutely  nothing,  may  be  the  first  to 
pass  the  winning-post,  or  in  the  hope  that  by 
some  lucky  hit  they  will  secure  the  first  place  in 
a  "  guessing  competition,"  and  that  so  they  will 
be  able  to  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of 
others  as  foolish  as  they  are. 

To  a  true  lover  of  sport — and  no  man  loves 
his  favourite  game  more  than  I  do  mine — what 
can  be  more  humiliating  than  to  see  our  great 
national  pastimes  degraded  into  huge  money- 
makincf  concerns  ?  I  can  well  believe  that  under 
certain  circumstances  horse-racing  might  have  been 
a  noble  and  beautiful  sport ;  as  it  is,  the  turf  is  a 
great  gaming-table  and  (as  Lord  Beaconsfield  once 
said)  a  gigantic  engine  of  national  demoralization. 
And  now  it  seems  as  if  our  football  clubs  are  to 
pass  into  the  hands  of  syndicates  and  companies 
whose  chief  concern  is  not  good  sport  but  big 
dividends.  I  used  to  watch  with  a  certain  natural 
interest  the  fortunes  of  the  club  belonging  to  my 
native  town  ;  but  what  do  I  care  about  the  per- 
formances of  a  team  which,  though  it  keeps  the 


204  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

old  name,  has  been  bought  up  from  nobody  knows 
where,  and  will  be  scattered  again  as  soon  as  the 
directors  (in  the  interests  of  the  shareholders)  find 
it  expedient  to  sell  out  ? 

Or  turn  to  the  world  of  commerce  itself,  and 
say  if  this  is  not  the  security  of  many  a  giant 
wrong  that  lifts  its  head  among  us  to-day  :  that 
that  which  a  man  would  never  dare  to  do  singly, 
and  in  his  own  name,  he  will  quietly  wink  at  when 
it  is  done  by  a  company  of  which  he  happens  to 
be  a  shareholder  ;  until  one  is  sometimes  tempted 
to  say  in  his  haste  that  a  company  would  sell  its 
soul,  if  it  had  one,  that  it  might  declare  a  bigger 
dividend.  And  over  and  above  all  this,  which  of 
course  may  go  on  without  the  infringement  of  a 
single  letter  of  the  law^,  there  are  those — the 
meanest  spawn  of  Mammonism — who  prey  upon 
the  unwary,  and  devour  widows'  houses,  and  care 
not  who  are  wronged  if  they  may  get.  You 
remember  Trooper  Peter  Halket's  soliloquy  by 
night  on  the  African  veldt.  When  he  had  served 
his  time  and  the  Government  had  given  him  a 
piece  of  land,  he  would  set  about  "  to  make  his 
pile."  First,  he  should  have  to  start  a  syndicate, 
called  the  Peter  Halket  Gold,  or  the  Peter  Halket 
Iron  Mining,  or  some  such  name.  Syndicate.  Peter 
Halket  was  not  very  clear  as  to  how  it  ought  to 
be  started  ;  but  he  felt  certain  that  he  and  some 
other  men  would  have  to  take  shares.  They 
would  not  have  to  pay  for  them.  And  then  they 
would    get    some    big    man    in    London    to   take 


Concerning  *'  Getting  On  "  205 

shares.  He  need  not  pay  for  them  ;  they  would 
give  them  to  him  ;  and  then  the  company  would 
be  floated.  No  one  would  have  to  pay  anything ; 
it  was  just  the  name — "  The  Peter  Halket  Gold 
Mining  Company,  Limited."  It  would  float  in 
London  ;  and  people  there  who  didn't  know  the 
country  would  buy  the  shares  ;  they  would  have  to 
give  ready  money  for  them,  of  course ;  perhaps  fifteen 
pounds  a  share  when  they  were  up  !  And  then, 
when  the  market  was  up,  he,  Peter  Halket,  would 
sell  out  all  his  shares.  If  he  gave  himself  only 
six  thousand  and  sold  them  each  for  ten  pounds, 
then  he,  Peter  Halket,  would  have  sixty  thousand 
pounds  !  And  then  he  would  start  another  com- 
pany, and  another,  and 

And  even  when  we  turn  in  other  directions 
where  we  might  have  hoped  for  better  things,  we 
still  come  on  the  trail  of  the  Mammonite.  Look, 
e.g.,  at  some  of  our  modern  Socialist  programmes. 
There  is  not  a  little  in  them  that  is  admirable,  not 
a  little  that  we  may  reasonably  expect  to  see 
realized.  Yet  to  read  some  of  the  Socialist  publi- 
cations you  would  think  that  man  was  only  a 
mouth  that  needed  to  be  fed,  and  that  in  fulness 
of  bread  and  shortness  of  hours  his  millennium  is 
to  be  found — so  utterly  material  is  the  gospel 
which  they  preach. 

Now  it  is  against  this  universal  debasing  of  the 
ideals  of  life,  this  measuring  of  all  things  by  the 
standards  of  commerce,  this  idea  that  there  is  no 
true  "  getting  on "  which  has  not   its   immediate 


2o6  A  Young  Man  s  Religion 

cash  equivalent,  that  "  the  wealthiest  man  among 
us  is  the  best " — it  is  against  this  that  we  need 
continually  to  be  on  our  guard. 

Think  for  a  moment  of  some  of  those  who 
in  our  own  time  have  governed  their  life  by  ideals 
like  these,  and  who  have  come  almost  as  near  as 
a  man  can  to  gaining  the  whole  world.  What 
have  their  fabulous  fortunes  done  for  them  ?  One 
of  the  most  painfully  interesting  biographies  of 
recent  years  is  that  of  the  late  "  Barney  "  Barnato. 
He  did  not  merely  make  money  to  live — most  of 
us  have  to  do  that — he  lived  to  make  money. 
"  This  one  thing  I  do,"  he  might  have  said  ;  "  I 
make  money."  Finance  was  his  sole  business. 
"  He  had  to  run  stocks  up  and  down,  to  buy  and 
clear  out,  at  what  is  called  the  psychological 
moment."  All  the  higher  interests  of  life  were 
choked  by  his  passion  for  gold.  Politics,  litera- 
ture, art — he  cared  for  none  of  these  things.  Life 
to  him  was  just  one  huge  Stock  Exchange,  and 
his  fellow  -  creatures  only  so  many  share  -  selling, 
share  -  buying  bipeds.  As  for  the  Kaffirs — he  did 
not  count  them  his  fellow  -  creatures — what  did 
they  exist  for  but  to  enable  him  to  pocket  his 
sixty  per  cent  dividends  ?  And  the  end  of  it  all  ? 
A  coroner's  inquest ;  verdict :  Death  by  drowning 
while  temporarily  insane. 

One  of  the  ablest  of  our  living  journalists  used 
to  keep  on  his  office  wall  the  portraits  of  a  number 
of  the  most  famous  millionaires  of  the  day ;  then 
as,  one  after  another,  they  passed  away,  he   noted 


Concerning  "  Getting  On''  207 

under  their  portraits  the  circumstances  of  their 
death.  A  Httle  time  ago  he  gathered  up  the 
results  of  his  observations  in  a  terrible  article 
entitled  "  The  Tragedy  of  a  Millionaire."  Here 
are  some  of  his  facts  :  Mr.  Hooley,  who  bought 
big  concerns  for  millions,  is  now  a  bankrupt.  The 
Duke  of  Bedford,  with  his  large  estates  and  an 
income  of  ;^  3  00,000,  took  away  his  own  life. 
Colonel  North,  after  buying  his  way  into  "society" 
by  the  millions  he  had  coined,  dropped  dead  in 
the  midst  of  all  his  busy  schemes.  Joel,  a 
member  of  the  same  South  African  confraternity 
as  Barnato,  was  shot  dead  in  his  own  office. 
Ferdinand  de  Lesseps,  after  piling  up  a  big 
fortune  made  out  of  the  forced  labour  of  men 
whose  bones  are  bleaching  by  the  Suez  Canal 
and  the  still  unpierced  Isthmus  of  Panama,  died 
broken-hearted  and  disgraced.  One  New  York 
millionaire,  Mr.  Russell  Sage,  has  been  shot  at  in 
his  own  office.  Another,  the  late  Jay  Gould,  was 
threatened  with  being  hanged  on  the  nearest 
lamp-post ;  his  whole  life  was  one  incessant  grind 
for  money,  and  he  died,  worn  out,  at  a  compara- 
tively early  age.  "  How  happy  you  must  be, 
Mr.  Vanderbilt,"  said  some  one  to  the  American 
Railway  King,  "  with  all  those  millions ! " 
"Happy?"  he  replied;  "why,  I  have  not  an 
hour's  happiness  in  my  life.  Consider  :  I  cannot 
eat  or  drink  more  than  other  men,  I  cannot  wear 
more  clothes,  I  only  require  one  bed  to  sleep  in. 
All  the  rest  is  not  only  superfluous,  it  is  the  cause 


2o8  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

of  perpetual  trouble.    My  millions  cause  me  cease- 
less anxiety  day  and  night." 

These,  with  others  like  them,  all  lived  and 
died  in  the  faith  that  a  man's  life  consisteth  in 
the  abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth. 
And  even  if  we  forget  the  bitter  fruits  it  bore  for 
them,  what  great  names  rise  to  silence  their 
shameless  creed.  Socrates,  we  are  told,  held  no 
property,  lived  on  whatever  came  to  hand,  and 
wore  the  same  simple  clothes  winter  and  summer. 
Milton  "  lived  in  a  small  house,  supped  on  olives 
and  cold  water,  and  wore  coarse  though  clean 
clothing."  Who  ever  thinks  how  much  money 
Shakespeare  made  ?  When  Pope  Pius  IV.  heard 
of  the  death  of  John  Calvin  he  declared  that  that 
"  heretic's  "  strength  lay  in  this,  that  money  never 
had  the  slightest  charm  for  him.  Probably  no 
man  has  exerted  so  great  an  influence  in  the 
English-speaking  world  during  the  last  hundred 
and  fifty  years  as  John  Wesley,  and  to  the  day  of 
his  death  Wesley  was  absolutely  indifferent  to 
wealth.  One  year  at  Oxford  his  income  was 
£^0  ;  he  lived  on  £2^  and  gave  away  the  other 
two.  The  next  year,  receiving  £60,  he  still  lived 
on  ^28  and  gave  away  £^2.  The  third  year  he 
received  £(^0,  and  gave  away  £62.  The  fourth 
year  he  received  ^120;  still  he  lived  as  before 
on  ;^2  8,  and  gave  to  the  poor  £(^2,  During 
the  whole  of  his  life,  Southey  says,  Wesley 
probably  gave  away  not  less  than  ^30,000  ; 
and    when    once    he    composed     an    epitaph    for 


C oncer 7iing  "  Getting  On  "  209 


himself  he  concluded  it  with  the  words,  "  not  leav- 
ing, after  his  debts  are  paid,  ten  pounds  behind 
him." 

Recent  missionary  biography  has  no  more 
beautiful  chapter  than  that  of  An  Old  Mis- 
sionary, written  by  Sir  William  Hunter.  For 
long  years  he  laboured  among  the  hillmen  of 
India,  teaching,  healing,  ministering,  remembering 
the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  how  that  He  said, 
"Whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you,  let  him 
be  your  servant."  Sorrows  came  upon  him ;  his 
wife 'died,  his  sight  failed  him.  Yet  still  he  held 
to  his  post  and  died  at  it ;  and  Sir  William 
Hunter  tells  how  when  at  last  the  end  came, 
non-Christian  tribesmen  hurried  in  under  their 
chiefs,  forty  miles  without  a  pause  for  food  and 
water,  to  do  homage  to  their  white  father  and 
friend.  Yonder  he  sleeps  in  his  nameless  grave, 
under  the  Indian  sun;  what  a  contrast  with  the 
millionaire  clutching  at  his  dividends  and  then 
perishing  miserably  by  his  own  hand  in  mid- 
Atlantic  !  And — did  you  ever  think  of  it  ? — 
"  the  one  perfect  life  that  has  been  lived  in  this 
world  is  the  life  of  Him  who  owned  nothing,  and 
who  left  nothing  but  the  clothes  He  wore."  The 
Son  of  Man  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head.  How 
His  three-and-thirty  years  freeze  with  one  rebuke 
our  Mammon-loving  age  that  thinks  the  wealthiest 
man  among  us  is  the  best ! 

And  yet,  no,  in  our  hearts  we  do  fwt  count  the 
wealthiest  man  the  best.     We  may  join  with  them 

P 


2IO  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

that  crowd  and  jostle  in  the  temple  of  Mammon 
and  that  cry  unceasingly,  "  O  Mammon,  hear  us  ! 
O  Mammon,  hear  us  ! "  But  when  we  are  alone 
with  our  better  selves,  when  we  go  down  into  that 
little  private  chapel  where  no  one  goes  but  our- 
selves, we  know  that  the  Mammon -worshippers 
are  all  wrong,  we  know  that  we  were  made  for 
higher  things,  that  a  man's  life  consisteth  not  in 
the  abundance  of  the  things  that  he  possesseth, 
that  there  is  nothing  that  a  man  can  give  in 
exchange  for  his  ^oul. 

You  aim  to  succeed  ?  You  want  to  get  on  ? 
You  do  well.  But  settle  what  you  mean  by 
success.  Remember  you  may  be  getting,  without 
getting  on  ;  you  may  be  getting  and  still  going 
down.  "  It  were  better,"  says  John  Henry 
Newman,  "  for  the  sun  and  moon  to  drop  from 
heaven,  for  the  earth  to  fail,  and  all  the  many 
millions  on  it  to  die  of  starvation  in  extremest 
agony,  than  that  one  soul  should  commit  one  single 
venial  sin,  should  tell  one  wilful  untruth,  or  should 
steal  one  poor  farthing  without  excuse."  We  may 
think  the  language  exaggerated  ;  but,  young  men, 
my  brothers,  you  and  I  are -never  safe  until  the 
conviction  is  rooted  within  us,  unalterable  as  the 
axioms  of  Euclid,  that  things  material  can  never 
be  the  measure  of  things  moral  and  spiritual, 
that  worlds  cannot  outweigh  the  value  of  a 
soul. 

Christ  has  no  controversy  with  us  because  we 
are  too  ambitious,  because  we  aim  too  high.    Rather 


Concerning  "  Getting  On  "  211 

does  He  charge  it  against  us  that  we  do  not  aim 
high  enough,  that  our  ambitions  are  too  paltry. 
"  Seek  ye  first,"  He  says,  "  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness  "  ;  and  to  that  high  Hfe  He 
calls  us  all. 


LOST  SORROWS 


' '  All  chastening  for  the  present  seenieth  to  be  not  joyous^  but 
grievous :  yet  afterward  it  yieldeth  peaceable  fruit  unto  them  that 
have  been  exeixised  thereby,  even  the  fruit  of  righteousness.'^'' — The 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

' '  Trial  only  stops  when  it  is  useless  :  that  is  why  it  scaixely  ever 
stops'' — Amiel. 

' '  It  would  be  a  poor  restdt  of  all  our  anguish  and  our  wrestling, 
if  we  won  nothing  but  our  old  selves  at  the  end  of  it — if  we  cotdd 
return  to  the  same  blind  loves,  the  saine  self-confident  blame,  the  same 
light  thoughts  of  human  suffering,  the  same  frivolous  gossip  over 
blighted  htwian  lives,  the  same  feeble  sense  of  that  Unknown  towards 
which  we  have  sent  forth  irrepressible  cries  in  our  loneliness.  Let  us 
rather  be  thankful  that  our  sorrow  lives  in  us  as  an  indestructible 
force,  ottly  changing  its  form,  as  forces  do,  and  passing  from  pain 
into  sympathy — the  one  poor  word  which  includes  all  our  best  insight 
and  our  best  love.'" — George  Eliot. 


XIV 
LOST  SORROWS 

IS  there  not  something  infinitely  pathetic  in  the 
continual  going  back  of  one  generation  after 
another  to  the  old,  sad  mystery  of  pain  ?  There 
is,  I  suppose,  nothing  new  to  be  said  about  it, 
there  is  no  fresh  light  to  be  cast  upon  it ;  yet 
men  still  wait  and  watch  and  hope,  still  the  poor 
brain  busies  itself,  and  the  torn  heart  cries  aloud, 
"  My  God,  my  God,  why —  ?  "  Other  questions 
we  answer,  or  they  answer  themselves,  or  we  are 
content  they  should  go  unanswered  ;  but  this 
question  is  always  with  us.  And,  indeed,  how 
should  it  be  otherwise,  since  on  every  man,  soon 
or  late,  the  dark  mystery  thrusts  itself  ?  "  Man 
that  is  born  of  a  woman  is  of  few  days  and  full 
of  trouble  "  :  the  words  are  very  old,  they  are 
never  obsolete.  The  generations  come  and  go, 
but  sorrow  and  pain  and  death  abide.  In  the 
cathedral  at  Carlisle  there  is  a  memorial  to  five 
little   children    of  the   late  Archbishop  Tait.      In 


2 1 6  A  Young  Man  s  Religion 

one  terrible  month,  March  lo  to  April  lo,  all  five 
were  carried  off  by  death  and  laid  in  a  single 
grave.  "  I  have  not  had  the  heart,"  wrote  their 
stricken  father,  "  to  make  any  entry  in  my  journal 
for  above  nine  weeks.  When  last  I  wrote  I  had 
six  daughters  on  earth  ;  now  I  have  one."  Not 
often,  indeed,  do  the  blows  fall  in  such  swift  and 
awful  succession  ;  sometimes  it  may  seem  as  if 
we  were  to  escape  altogether ;  then  comes  the 
inevitable  hour,  and  we  are  mourners  with  the 
rest. 

How  powerless  are  the  strongest  when  the  day 
of  trouble  dawns  !  Wealth  can  do  many  things  ; 
but  when  Death  notches  his  arrow  on  the  string, 
wealth  is  only  a  pasteboard  helmet. 

"  The  glories  of  our  birth  and  state 
Are  shadows,  not  substantial  things  : 

"  Death  lays  his  icy  hand  on  kings  ; 

Sceptre  and  crown 

Must  tumble  down 
And  in  the  dust  be  equal  made 
With  the  poor  crooked  scythe  and  spade." 

Nor  can  the  highest  medical  skill  avail  to  shut 
the  door  against  suffering.  There  is  surely  no 
more  touching  chapter  in  recent  biography  than 
that  which  tells  how  Sir  James  Young  Simpson, 
the  great  Edinburgh  physician,  who  healed  so 
many,  was  yet  powerless  to  keep  pain  and  death 
from  his  own  home.  His  first-born,  so  we  read, 
his  sweet-souled  little  Maggie,  at  four  years  died 


Lost  So7'rows  2 1 7 


in  agony,  begging  for  water  which  her  closed 
throat  would  not  let  her  swallow ;  another 
daughter  had  but  a  year's  lease  of  life.  One  son 
was  a  sufferer  from  infancy,  and  the  darkness  of 
blindness  was  closing  in  on  him  when  death  lulled 
him  to  rest ;  another  was  snatched  away  just 
when,  after  years  of  study,  he  was  ready  to  give 
to  his  overburdened  father  the  relief  he  so  sorely 
needed. 

And,  what  sometimes  seems  hardest  of  all, 
even  goodness  cannot  save  us.  When  the  fiery 
trial  Cometh  upon  us  to  prove  us,  we  are  not  to 
think  it  strange,  as  though  some  strange  thing  had 
happened  unto  us.  "  Yourselves  know,"  wrote 
the  apostle,  "that  hereunto  we  are  appointed." 
It  is  through  "  much  tribulation  "  that  we  are  to 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  They  whom 
John  saw  before  the  throne  were  they  "  which 
come  out  of  the  great  tribulation."  God  scourgeth 
every  son  whom  He  receiveth.  So  that,  whatever 
gulfs  divide  us,  we  are  one  in  suffering  ;  sorrow 
makes  the  whole  world  kin,  it  knits  mankind 
into  one  great  brotherhood. 

So  far,  then,  there  is  a  certain  rough  equality 
amongst  us  ;  suffering  is  the  common  lot.  And 
if,  in  this  matter,  one  differs  from  another,  it  is 
not  so  much  that  one  suffers  more  and  another 
less — though  this,  of  course,  is  true — but  that  to 
one  his  suffering  is  only  suffering,  and  to  another 
it  is  chastening,  discipline.  Not  in  the  degree  of 
our  suffering,  but  in  what  we  make  of  it,  in  what 


2 1 8  A  Young  Mans  Religion 

it  makes  of  us,  lies  the  real  difference.  "  Sweet 
are  the  uses  of  adversity "  ;  the  lives  of  some 
seem  like  one  long  commentary  on  the  saying  ; 
but  others  never  learn  the  hard  lesson  ;  their 
sorrows  (to  use  Thomas  Erskine's  striking  phrase) 
are  all  "  lost  sorrows,"  they  yield  no  peaceable 
fruit  of  righteousness.  For,  let  us  remember, 
there  is  nothing  necessary,  nothing  mechanical, 
in  the  action  of  suffering  ;  pain  does  not  always 
discipline,  chastisements  do  not  always  chasten. 
What  suffering  makes  of  us  depends  upon  how 
we  think  of  it,  in  what  spirit  we  meet  it,  how  we 
bear  up  under  it.  When  disasters  fall  thick  and 
fast  upon  us,  there  are,  as  one  has  said,  three 
alternatives :  there  is  suicide,  there  is  stoicism, 
and  there  is  faith. 

(i)  Concerning  the  first  alternative  nothing 
need  now  be  said,  except  that  in  speaking  of 
"  suicide  "  I  mean  (as  does  the  writer  whose  words 
I  have  adopted)  not  only  the  determined  taking 
away  of  life,  but  the  use  of  everything  that  unlaw- 
fully deadens  the  sensibilities.  This  is  no  matter, 
verily,  for  harsh  and  pitiless  judgment,  but  for  a 
man  to  seek  to  drown  his  grief  in  drink,  with 
"  dull  narcotics  numbing  pain,"  is  to  be  guilty  of 
self-murder,  it  is  to  play  the  part  of  a  coward,  it 
is  to  abdicate  the  throne  of  manhood,  it  is  to 
deny  God. 

(2)  The  second  alternative  is  stoicism.  It 
was  in  that  spirit  that  Emily  Bronte,  with 
whitening      face      and      set      mouth,     met      the 


Lost  Sorrows  219 


woes  of  her  hard  brief  Hfe  in  the  parsonage  at 
Haworth. 

"  Yes,  as  my  swift  days  near  their  goal," 

— it  was  her  own  prayer — 

"  'Tis  all  that  I  implore  ; 
In  life  and  death  a  chainless  soul 
With  courage  to  endure." 

"  Full  of  ruth  for  others,"  writes  her  sister  Char- 
lotte, "  on  herself  she  had  no  pity  ;  the  spirit  was 
inexorable  to  the  flesh  ;  from  the  trembling  hands, 
the  unnerved  limbs,  the  fading  eyes,  the  same 
service  was  exacted  as  they  had  rendered  in 
health."  And,  unyielding  to  the  last,  she  died, 
literally  on  her  feet. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Henley  strikes  the  same  iron  chord 
in  his  wonderful  little  poem — 

"  Out  of  the  night  that  covers  me, 

Black  as  the  pit  from  pole  to  pole, 
I  thank  whatever  gods  may  be 
For  my  unconquerable  soul. 

In  the  fell  clutch  of  circumstance 
I  have  not  winced  nor  cried  aloud, 

Under  the  bludgeonings  of  chance 
My  head  is  bloody,  but  unbowed. 

Beyond  this  place  of  wrath  and  tears 
Looms  but  the  horror  of  the  shade, 

And  yet  the  menace  of  the  years 
Finds,  and  shall  find  me,  unafraid. 

It  matters  not  how  strait  the  gate, 

How  charged  with  punishments  the  scroll, 

I  am  the  master  of  my  fate, 
1  am  the  captain  of  my  soul." 


2  20  A  Young  Mans  Religio 


n 


That  here  are  elements  of  grandeur  in  a  creed 
like  this  no  one  will  deny.  To  us,  born  in  these 
hardy  northern  climes,  love  of  whatsoever  things 
are  brave  and  firm  and  true  is  strong  as  an 
instinct,  and  the  stoic  never  appeals  to  us  wholly 
in  vain.  And  yet,  do  I  need  to  say,  this  is  a 
creed  infinitely  below  the  Christian  faith?  At 
the  best  it  can  never  be  more  than  the  refuge  of 
the  few.  Here  and  there  you  may  find  a  man  of 
iron  nerve  and  resolute  will  who  will  brave  the 
storm  and  bid  the  tempest  do  its  worst,  and  steer 
right  onward  through  the  night,  nor  bate  a  jot  of 
heart  or  hope  till  the  day  break  again  sweet  and 
clear.  But  most  of  us,  if  we  are  shut  up  to  our 
own  resources,  if  help  do  not  come  to  us  from 
without,  must  lie  down  and  die,  or  seek  allevia- 
tions which  are  worse  than  death.  No,  there  is 
no  help  for  us  in  stoicism. 

(3)  The  only  other  alternative  is  faith.  What, 
in  a  word,  is  the  Christian  faith  concerning  suffer- 
ing ?  I  do  not  know  how  I  can  put  it  better 
than  in  Silas  Marner's  simple  words  :  "  There's 
dealings  with  us — there's  dealings."      We  are  not 

"  Poor  windle  straws 
On  the  great,  sullen,  roaring  pool  of  Time 
And  Chance  and  Change." 

Through  all  our  life  a  purpose  runs  ;  even  sorrow 
and  pain  and  death  have  their  place  in  the  great 
Divine  scheme  of  things.  As  it  behoved  Christ 
to  suffer  and  to  enter  into  His  glory,  so  also  here- 


Lost  Soi^rows  221 


unto  are  we  appointed  ;  and  though  no  chasten- 
ing for  the  present  seemeth  to  be  joyous,  yet 
afterward,  unto  them  that  have  been  exercised 
thereby,  it  yieldeth  the  peaceable  fruit  of  righteous- 
ness. 

"  Afterward  "  ;  let  us  not  shrink  from  the  word, 
it  touches  not  only  time  but  eternity,  let  us  give 
it  its  full  meaning,  let  us  follow  it  out  to  the 
eternity  whither  it  points.  Much  of  what  the 
Bible  has  to  say  concerning  future  blessedness, 
that  we  through  patience  and  through  comfort  of 
the  Scriptures  might  have  hope,  might  never  have 
been  written,  so  little  do  even  Christian  men  and 
women  give  heed  to  it  to-day.  But  in  the  New 
Testament  the  thought  of  the  future  is  everywhere 
present,  everywhere  calculated  on.'  The  Christian 
life,  the  purposes  of  God,  all  are  planned,  so  to 
speak,  not  on  the  time  scale  but  on  the  eternal 
scale.  No  chastening  for  the  present  "seemeth 
to  be  joyous  "  ;  nevertheless,  to  them  that  are 
exercised  thereby  the  harvest  is  sure  :  afterward 
it  yieldeth  the  peaceable  fruit  of  righteousness. 
Something,  much,  may  be  gathered  here,  and 
now  ;  but,  sometimes,  God's  harvests  ripen  slowly, 
and  it  may  be  only  in  His  eternity  that  we  shall 
come  again  with  rejoicing,  our  arms  full  of 
sheaves.  But — this  is  the  divine  promise,  this  is 
the  Christian  faith — "  in  due  season,"  then  if  not 
now,  yonder  if  not  here,  "  we  shall  reap  if  we 
faint  not." 

This,  then,  is   the  Christian  faith,  and  though 


2  2  2  A  Young  Mails  Religion 

for  its  full  verification  we  must  wait,  in  part  at 
least,  it  may  be  verified  now.  Turn  to  the  lives 
of  the  saints — it  hardly  matters  which  volume 
you  take  down  from  the  long  row — they  will  all 
teach  us  how  to  sanctify  our  sorrows.  "  I  never 
knew,"  said  Samuel  Rutherford,  "  by  my  nine 
years'  preaching,  so  much  of  Christ's  love  as  He 
hath  taught  me  in  Aberdeen,  by  six  months' 
imprisonment."  "  I  have  known  more  of  God," 
said  Ralph  Erskine,  as  he  lay  waiting  for  death, 
"  since  I  came  to  this  bed  than  through  all  my 
life."  "O  God,"  wrote  Archbishop  Tait  in  the 
day  of  his  utter  desolation,  when  the  garden  of 
his  life  had  been  turned  into  a  desert,  "  Thou 
hast  dealt  very  mysteriously  with  us.  We  have 
been  passing  through  deep  waters  :  our  feet  were 
well-nigh  gone.  But  though  thou  slay  us,  yet 
will  we  trust  in  thee."  Writing  from  his  father's 
death -bed  to  a  friend,  Henry  Drummond  said, 
"  Trouble  is  not  such  a  new  thing  to  you,  but  it  is 
to  me,  and  I  hear  it  saying  many  things.  Some 
I  never  knew  before  ;  others  one  has  heard  but 
never  believed  ;  others  one  has  heard  often  and 
as  often  forgotten."  Was  not  Bunyan  right  ? 
"  Though  Christian  had  the  hard  hap  to  meet  in 
the  valley  with  Apollyon,  yet  I  must  tell  you 
that  in  former  times  men  have  met  with  angels 
here :  have  found  pearls  here,  and  have  in  this 
place  found  the  words  of  life."  "In  the  year  that 
King  Uzziah  died,  I  saw  the  Lord,"  and  many  a 
man  can  say  that  he  has  never  been  so  sure  of 


Lost  Sorrows 


God,  as  just  in  the  blank  hours  of  loss,  when  his 
heart  was /stunned,  within  him  and  all  his  life 
seemed  to^lie  in  ruins  at  his  feet. 

Nor  is  this  all.  Have  we  not  all  seen  those 
to  whom  there  have  come  through  their  suffer- 
ing, not  only  a  clearer  vision  of  God,  but  larger 
sympathies,  nay,  indeed,  a  new  revelation  of  life 
and  of  duty  ?  What  power,  in  them  that  are 
exercised  thereby,  has  sorrow  to  subdue,  to  soften, 
to  purify,  purging  the  soul  as  by  a  refiner's  fire  of 
its  earthliness  and  dross  ! 

"Patience  and  abnegation  of  self  and  devotion  to  others, 
This  was  the  lesson  a  life  of  trial  and  sorrow  had  taught  her." 

Who  has  not  watched  in  some  sick-room, 
where  that  hard  lesson  has  been  well  learned, 
where  the  daylight  seemed  to  linger  longer  than 
elsewhere,  and  the  holy  calm  of  the  patient 
sufferer  fell  like  a  benediction  on  all  hearts  ?  "  It 
is  good  for  me  that  I  have  been  afflicted."  We 
could  not  say  it  once,  perhaps  we  cannot  say  it 
even  now,  but  with  some  of  us  things  are  happen- 
ing every  day  that  make  the  hard  saying  less 
hard,  and  long  ere  Time,  the  great  annotator, 
has  made  his  last  entry  we  shall  know  that  the 
Psalmist  was  right. 

One  of  my  pleasantest  memories  of  our  English 
Lakeland  is  of  a  drive  home  through  Grasmere 
Vale  in  the  dusk  of  the  twilight,  one  summer 
evening  in  June,  and  the  sight  of  thousands  of 
the    beautiful    white    marguerites    gleaming    like 


2  24  ^  Young  Man  s  Religion 

stars  in  the  dark  meadows.  Years  ago  (I  was 
told)  none  of  these  lovely  flowers  were  to  be  seen 
in  the  vale  ;  but  the  farmers  took  to  using  lime 
for  the  fertilizing  of  the  soil,  then  they  sprang  up 
in  white  abundance  everywhere.  I  do  not  know 
if  my  information  be  correct,  but  this  I  do  know, 
that  trouble  is  sometimes  the  one  thing  needed  to 
mingle  with  the  soil  of  a  man's  life,  that  it  may 
put  forth  its  perfect  flower. 

"  We  lay  in  dust,  life's  glory  dead, 
And  from  the  ground  there  blossoms  red 
Life  that  shall  endless  be." 

What  are  our  sorrows  doing  for  us  ?  Ad- 
versity, as  Thackeray  has  told  us,  is  a  great 
schoolmistress,  and  we  have  all,  some  time  or 
other,  to  stand  before  her  awful  chair  and  feel  our 
knuckles  smarting  under  her  blows.  But,  her 
lessons,  her  lessons — are  we  learning  them  ?  To 
some  of  God's  children  it  has  even  seemed  as  if 
sufferings  put  upon  them  new  responsibilities,  and 
they  have  prayed  that  "  in  that  day  "  they  might 
not  be  laid  against  them,  they  have  trembled  lest 
their  sorrows  should  be  "  lost  sorrows."  It  is  a 
fear,  it  is  a  prayer,  that  may  well  be  on  all  our 
lips  and  in  all  our  hearts. 

•We  may  not  pray  to  be  saved  from  all  pain  ; 
for  is  it  not  written  even  of  Christ  that  He  was 
made  perfect  through  suffering  ?  And  shall  not  the 
servant  be  even  as  His  Lord  ?  But  this  let  us 
pray,  that   we    may  not   suffer,  and   yet  be   the 


Lost  S or 7^010 s  22 


same — careless,  selfish,  impenitent.  To  be  thrust 
into  the  furnace,  heated,  perhaps,  seven  times 
hotter  than  it  is  wont  to  be,  and  to  come  out  of 
it  with  all  the  dross  and  impurity  still  clinging  to 
us — against  that  let  a  man  pray  with  all  the 
passion  of  his  being.  For,  verily,  an  unblest 
sorrow  is  the  saddest  thine  in  life. 


'fc> 


"And  I  also  have  given  you  cleanness  of  teeth  in  all  your 
cities,  and  want  of  bread  in  all  your  places  :  yet  have  ye  not 
returned  icnto  rne^  saith  the  LORD.  And  I  also  have  vvith- 
holden  the  rain  from  you,  when  there  were  yet  three  months 
to  the  harvest :  and  I  caused  it  to  rain  upon  one  city,  and 
caused  it  not  to  rain  upon  another  city.  ...  So  two  or 
three  cities  wandered  unto  one  city  to  drink  water,  and 
were  not  satisfied  :  yet  have  ye  not  returjted  unto  ?ne,  saith 
the  Lord.  I  have  smitten  you  with  blasting  and  mildew  : 
the  multitude  of  your  gardens  and  your  vineyards,  and  your 
fig-trees, and  your  olive-trees  hath  the  palmerworm  devoured: 
yet  have  ye  ?iot  returned  unto  ?ne^  saith  the  LORD.  I  have 
sent  among  you  the  pestilence  after  the  manner  of  Egypt  : 
your  young  men  have  I  slain  with  the  sword,  and  have 
carried  away  your  horses  ;  and  I  have  made  the  stink  of 
your  camps  to  come  up  even  into  your  nostrils  :  yet  have 
ye  7iot  returned  unto  7ne^  saith  the  LORD.  I  have  over- 
thrown some  among  you,  as  when  God  overthrew  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah,  and  ye  were  as  a  brand  plucked  out  cf  the 
burning  :  yet  have  ye  not  returned  unto  me,  saith  the  LORD." 

This  fourth  chapter  of  Amos  is  to  me  one  of 
the  most  terrible  in  the  whole  Bible,  for  it  is  the 
picture  of  a  nation  thrust  into  the  fire  and  laid 
upon  the  anvil, 

"  Heated  hot  with  burning  fears 
And  dipt  in  baths  of  hissing  tears, 
And  batterd  with  the  shocks  of  doom," 

Q 


2  26  A  Yoitng  Man  s  Religion 


and  yet,  in   the  end,  the  same  shapeless,  intract- 
able mass  that  ever  it  was. 

What  are  our  sorrows  saying  to  us  ?  In  them 
all  God  speaks  to  us  ;  have  we  heard  Him  ?  We 
have  had  trouble  upon  trouble,  wave  upon  wave, 
until  all  His  billows  have  gone  over  us — '^Yet 
have  ye  not  returned  unto  me,  saith  the  Lord','  Is 
it  so  ?  Then  let  us  remember  that  "  sorrow  is 
God's  last  message  to  man  ;  it  is  God  speaking 
in  emphasis."  He  who  can  be  deaf  to  that  voice 
can  be  deaf  when  God  speaks  loudest. 


IS  THERE  ANYTHING   IN  GOD   TO 
FEAR? 


•*  Behind  the  otdworks  of  his  nature,  in  the  very  citadel  of  his 
sotd,  there  dwelt  what  can  only  be  called  the  fear  of  God.  He  seemed 
to  live  in  the  constant  recollection  of  something  which  is  awful,  even 
dreadftd  to  remember — something  which  bears  with  searching  force  on 
all  men's  ways,  and  hopes  and  plans — sotnething  before  which  he 
knew  himself  to  be,  as  it  were,  continually  arraigned — so?nething 
which  it  was  strange  and  pathetic  to  find  so  little  recognised  among 
other  men.'''' — Written  of  the  late  Dean  Church  by  Dean 
Paget. 


XV 

IS  THERE  ANYTHING   IN  GOD 
TO   FEAR? 

"  O  ERRY,"  said  Dr.  Dale  one  day  to  his  Wolver- 
JJ  hampton  friend,  "  nobody  is  afraid  of  God 
now."  "  The  wrath  of  God,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  is 
revealed  from  heaven  against  all  ungodliness  and 
unrighteousness  of  men  "  ;  but  while  we  welcome 
the  revelation  of  love,  the  revelation  of  wrath  we 
ignore.  "  Behold,"  cries  the  same  Apostle,  "  the 
goodness  and  the  severity  of  God."  These  are  the 
double  rays  which  make  the  white  light  of  Deity  ; 
and  if  the  old  theological  spectrum  erred  sometimes 
in  that  it  revealed  only  the  fiery  red  ray,  ours  is  not 
less  at  fault  that  shows  it  scarce  visible  at  all.  "  A 
man  that  hath  set  at  nought  Moses'  law,"  says 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  "  dieth  without  com- 
passion on  the  word  of  two  or  three  witnesses  ;  of 
how  much  sorer  punishment,  think  ye,  shall  he 
be  judged  worthy,  who  hath  trodden  under  foot 
the  Son  of  God,  and  hath  counted  the  blood 
of  the  covenant,  wherewith  he  was  sanctified,  an 


A  Voting  Mans  Religion 


unholy  thing,  and  hath  done  despite  unto  the  Spirit 
of  grace  ?  ...  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  living  God."  But  how  few  of  us 
have  ever  really  felt  that !  "  If,"  asks  St.  Peter, 
with  a  catch  in  his  breath,  "  if  the  righteous  is 
scarcely  saved,  where  shall  the  ungodly  and  sinner 
appear  ? "  But  that  sense  of  fear  of  the  judg- 
ment of  God  has  to-day  well-nigh  gone  from  us. 
Of  course,  we  believe  that  sin  matters,  but  it  is  to 
ourselves  rather  than  to  God,  so  that  even  when  we 
think  seriously  of  sin  it  is  still  of  sin  apart  from 
God,  as  hurtful  to  ourselves  rather  than  as  hateful 
to  Him.  Confession  has  lost  the  agony  of  the 
Psalmist's  cry,  "  Against  Thee,  Thee  only,  have 
I  sinned,  and  done  that  which  is  evil  in  Thy 
sight."  The  Divine  authority  is  an  unarmed 
authority  ;  "  nobody  is  afraid  of  God  now." 

And  why,  some  one  may  ask,  should  we  be 
afraid  of  God  ?  Does  He  not  love  us — love  us 
as  no  mother  loves  her  child — love  us  all — even 
the  worst  and  most  unlovable  ?  True  ;  but  now, 
tell  me,  where  did  you  learn  that  ?  Was  it  not 
from  Christ  and  the  New  Testament  ?  But  if  He 
who  taught  us  this,  taught  us  also  that  God  is 
angry  with  the  wicked  every  day,  and  that  a  day 
is  coming  when  He  will  render  to  every  man 
according  to  his  works,  to  them  that  by  patience 
in  well-doing  seek  for  glory  and  honour  and  in- 
corruption,  eternal  life  ;  but  unto  them  that  obey 
not  the  truth  but  obey  unrighteousness,  wrath,  and 
indignation,  tribulation  and  anguish,upon  every  soul 


Is  there  Ajiy  thing  in  God  to  Fear?     231 

of  man  that  worketh  evil — if,  I  say,  He  who  taught 
us  to  call  God  "  Love  "  taught  us  also  these  things, 
ought  we  not  to  receive  His  whole  word — this  as 
well  as  that  ?  If  the  two  truths  stood  together  in 
His  mind  and  in  the  minds  of  His  Apostles,  not 
excluding  but  completing  each  other,  ought  we  not 
likewise  to  find  a  place  for  both  in  our  minds  ? 

This  is  the  point  to  which  I  want  all  my 
words  in  this  brief  chapter  to  lead  up.  The 
God  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  God  who  is  revealed 
to  us  in  every  page  of  the  New  Testament,  is  a 
very  different  Being  from  the  indulgent  Eli,  the 
infinite  good  nature,  that  men  have  so  often 
pictured  to  themselves.  To  Christ  and  to  all 
His  Apostles  the  wrath  of  God  is  as  real,  as 
certain  as  the  love  of  God.  Within  the  covers  of 
the  one  Book  it  is  written  "  God  is  love,"  and 
"  Our  God  is  a  consuming  fire  "  ;  and  one  of  its 
writers,  with  deep  spiritual  insight,  links  the  two 
truths  in  one  great  word  :  "  If  ye  call  on  Him 
as  Father  .  .  .  pass  the  time  of  your  sojourning 
in  fear."  The  fear  of  the  Father,  the  wrath  of  the 
Lamb — perchance  it  is  only  in  Divine  paradoxes 
like  these  that  the  whole  truth  can  be  told.  I 
know  how  one  half  of  the  truth  has  been  torn 
from  the  other,  with  what  grossness  and  crude 
imagery  and  unscriptural  exaggeration  it  has  been 
set  forth,  until  men  have  stopped  their  ears  and 
turned  away  with  a  shudder,  saying  that  if  this 
were  God  they  would  curse  Him  and  die.  Yet 
with  all  such  perversions  we  have  nothing  to  do  ; 


A  Young  Alans  Religion 


the  New  Testament  is  not  responsible  for  them, 
and  we  had  better  make  haste  to  forget  them. 
The  only  question  that  really  concerns  us  is  this  : 
Is  there  in  the  New  Testament  a  revelation  of 
wrath  against  sin,  and  if  there  is,  are  we  giving  to 
it  in  our  minds  and  lives  the  place  it  holds  there  ? 

"  Then  are  men  to  be  frightened  into  religion  ? 
Are  they  to  serve  God,  not  through  love  but 
through  fear — the  coward's  fear  for  his  own 
skin  ? "  Let  us  be  under  no  delusion  ;  no  man 
ever  was  frightened  into  religion  ;  God  has  no 
true  servants  who  only  serve  Him  through  fear. 
But  God's  will  is  that  our  life  should  be  fashioned 
by  the  whole  truth  which  He  has  given  to  us,  and 
if  this  of  which  I  am  speaking  now  is  part  of  His 
truth,  ought  we  not  to  give  heed  to  it  ?  If  Christ 
thought  well  to  appeal  alike  to  men's  hopes  and 
their  fears,  can  we  afford  to  ignore  His  words  ? 

And  for  the  moment  it  shall  be  to  the  words 
of  Christ  alone  that  we  will  turn.  "  Back  to 
Christ "  is  one  of  the  favourite  theological  watch- 
words of  the  hour,  and  if  only  it  be  not  used  to 
depreciate  the  rightful  authority  of  St.  Paul  and 
his  brother  Apostles,  it  may  prove  a  very  useful 
cry.  The  surprising  thing  is  that  students  of  the 
New  Testament  should  sometimes  speak  as  if 
Paul  had  somehow  or  other  to  be  pushed  on  one 
side  in  order  to  make  the  way  to  Christ  clear : 
for  unless  I  have  wholly  misunderstood  his 
Epistles,  there  is  no  one  who  is  both  so  anxious 
and  so  able  to  take  us  back  to  Christ  as  just  the 


Is  there  Anything  in  God  to  Fear?     233 

great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  himself.  However, 
I  do  not  wish  to  stir  up  needless  antagonisms, 
and  therefore  our  appeal  just  now  shall  be  limited 
to  the  teaching  of  Jesus  as  it  is  recorded  by  the 
Four  Evangelists.  We  will  ask  Him  to  tell  us  if 
there  is  anything  in  God  to  fear.  I  take  it  for 
granted  that  for  us  His  authority  is  final,  that 
when  we  know  His  word,  it  is  to  us  the  end  of 
all  controversy.  Indeed,  to  reject  His  authority  is 
to  put  out  our  only  light,  and  to  make  all  our  words 
on  the  matter  as  idle  as  the  chattering  of  sparrows. 
What  then  does  Christ  say  ?  I  begin  where 
so  many  to-day  are  ready  both  to  begin  and  to 
end — with  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Its  clos- 
ing words  are  words  of  doom  :  "  Every  one  that 
heareth  these  sayings  of  Mine,  and  doeth  them  not, 
shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish  man,  which  built 
his  house  upon  the  sand  ;  and  the  rain  descended, 
and  the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and 
smote  upon  that  house,  and  it  fell,  and  great  was 
the  fall  thereof."  "  He  that  hath  seen  Me,"  Christ 
said  to  Philip,  "  hath  seen  the  Father."  In  what 
He  was  and  said  and  did,  in  His  life  and  in  His 
death,  we  read  what  God  is.  We  follow  Him  from 
Bethlehem  to  Nazareth,  from  Nazareth  to  Genne- 
saret,  from  Gennesaret  to  Jerusalem,  to  the  upper 
room  and  its  sweet  solemnities,  to  Gethsemane  and 
to  Calvary,  and  at  every  step  of  the  way  He  is  say- 
ing to  us,  "  He  that  hath  seen  Me  hath  seen  the 
Father."  We  are  with  Him  at  Cana  and  at  Nain, 
with  the  little  children  whom  He  blessed,  and  her 


2  34  ^  Young  Mans  Religion 

whose  many  sins  He  forgave  in  the  house  of 
Simon,  with  Him  again  in  the  last  awful  darkness 
of  the  Cross  ;  and  everywhere  and  always  He  is 
still  saying  to  us,  "  He  that  hath  seen  Me  hath 
seen  the  Father  ;  if  ye  had  known  Me,  ye  should 
have  known  My  Father  also."  But  it  is  of  that 
same  Jesus  that  it  is  written,  "  He  looked  round 
upon  them  with  anger,  being  grieved  at  the  harden- 
ing of  their  heart."  Is  there  no  revelation  of  God 
here  also  ?  He  who  spoke  the  parable  of  the 
Prodigal  Son  told  us  likewise  of  the  unforgiving 
servant,  with  whom  his  lord  was  wroth,  and  who 
was  delivered  to  the  tormentors,  till  he  should 
pay  all  that  was  due.  "  So,"  says  Christ,  "  shall 
also  My  heavenly  Father  do  unto  you,  if  ye 
forgive  not  every  one  his  brother  from  your 
hearts."  Is  the  one  parable  to  be  taken  and  the 
other  left  ?  "  Gentle  Jesus,  meek  and  mild,"  our 
mothers  taught  us  to  pray,  and  they  are  the  right 
words  for  childhood  to  learn.  But  do  they  tell 
the  whole  truth  concerning  Christ  ?  Ask  that 
old  Pharisee  who  heard  Christ's  sevenfold  "  woe," 
who  saw  His  blazing  eyes  and  quivering  lips,  who 
felt  his  own  hypocrite's  life  shrivel  to  its  very  root 
beneath  the  swift  lightning-strokes  of  those  terrible 
words — ask  him,  "  Rabbi,  what  thinkest  thou  of 
Christ  ?  "  Will  he  answer,  "  Gentle  Jesus,  meek 
and  mild "  ?  Nay,  verily.  And  even  in  that 
upper  room,  where  the  Pharisees  are  shut  out,  and 
the  Master  is  alone  with  His  disciples,  and  His 
words  grow  tender  and   caressing,  as   a  mother's 


Is  there  Anything  in  God  to  Fear?    235 

to  her  child,  even  there  the  solemn  note  of 
warning  is  heard  :  "  If  a  man  abide  not  in  Me, 
he  is  cast  forth  as  a  branch  and  is  withered  ;  and 
they  gather  them  and  cast  them  into  the  fire " 
— who  gather  them  ?  who  cast  them  into  the 
fire  ?  There  is,  as  some  one  has  said,  an  added 
impressiveness  in  the  unexplained  awfulness  in 
which  all  is  left — "  and  they  are  burned." 

Nothing  in  God  to  fear  ?  It  is  impossible 
that  a  man  should  believe  in  Christ  as  the  Re- 
vealer  of  God,  and  yet  believe  that.  It  was  He 
who  bade  His  disciples,  "  Be  not  afraid  of  them 
which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the 
soul  ;  but  rather  fear  Him  which  is  able  to 
destroy  both  body  and  soul  in  hell."  It  was  He 
who  declared  concerning  one  of  the  Twelve  that 
it  were  better  for  him  that  he  had  never  been 
born.  It  was  He  who  told  us  of  the  shut  door 
and  the  outer  darkness,  of  the  worm  that  dieth 
not,  and  the  fire  that  is  not  quenched,  of  the  sin 
which  hath  never  forgiveness,  neither  in  this  world, 
nor  in  that  which  is  to  come,  and  of  that  day 
when  He  who  wept  over  Jerusalem  and  prayed 
for  His  murderers  and  died  for  the  world  will  say 
unto  them  on  the  left  hand,  "  Depart  from  Me  ye 
cursed,  into  the  eternal  fire  which  is  prepared  for 
the  devil  and  his  angels."  "  Jesus,  Thy  deeds 
were  gentle,  but  who  hath  spoken  words  so  austere 
as  Thine  ?  Thou  hast  told  us  of  utter  separation. 
Thou  hast  shown  us  a  place  where  the  tear  falls 
in  vain." 


236  A  Yoimg  Mail  s  Religion 

Surely  it  is  a  fact  that  should  cause  us  to 
think  that  the  most  heart-shaking  words  to  be 
found  in  the  New  Testament  concerning  sin  and 
its  consequences  were  spoken  by  our  Lord  Him- 
self. If  there  is  nothing  in  God  to  fear,  what  is 
the  meaning  of  language  like  this  I  have  just 
quoted  ?  If  God  is  only  an  Infinite  Pity,  "  a 
summer  ocean  of  kindliness  never  agitated  by 
storms,"  how  come  words  like  these  on  the  lips 
of  Christ  ?  We  may  call  the  language  "  figura- 
tive " ;  yes,  but  figurative  of  what  ?  If  Christ 
were  in  earnest,  if  He  knew  what  He  said  and 
meant  what  He  said,  if  He  has  not  deliberately 
trifled  with  us  on  a  matter  the  most  solemn  con- 
ceivable, there  are  tremendous  facts  behind  those 
tremendous  words.  As  Dean  Church  truly  says, 
"  We  may  put  aside  the  New  Testament  alto- 
gether ;  but  if  we  profess  to  be  guided  by  it,  is 
there  anything  but  a  certain  fearful  looking  for 
of  judgment  and  fiery  indignation  for  obstinate, 
impenitent,  unforgiven  sin,  sin  without  excuse  and 
without  change  ?  " 

I  do  not  forget  that  good  and  wise  men, 
equally  loyal  to  Christ  and  submissive  to  His 
authority,  have  interpreted  His  words  in  different 
ways.  Some  have  found  in  them  the  doctrine  of 
a  literal  eternity  of  future  punishment ;  some 
have  held  they  taught  what  is  known  as  "  Con- 
ditional Immortality  "  ;  while  others,  again,  have 
thought  that,  with  all  their  immitigable  sternness, 
they  still  left  an   open   door  of  hope  in  the  life  to 


Is  there  Anything  in  God  to  Fear  ?    237 


come.  Into  these  various  interpretations  I  can- 
not enter  ;  but  let  us  take  heed  that  disputable 
theories  do  not  hide  from  us  this  indisputable  and 
undisputed  fact  that,  as  Dr.  Dale  says,  "  the  words 
of  Christ,  however  indefinite  they  may  be  with 
regard  to  the  kind  of  penalty  which  is  to  come 
upon  those  who  live  and  die  in  open  revolt  against 
God,  and  however  indefinite  they  may  be  with 
regard  to  the  duration  of  the  penalty,  are  words 
which  shake  the  heart  with  fear."  There  is  some- 
thing in  God  to  fear.  It  is  not  the  same  to  Him 
whether  we  are  good  or  whether  we  are  bad.  His 
wrath  is  revealed  from  heaven  against  the  un- 
godliness and  unrighteousness  of  men.  It  may 
come  with  leaden  feet,  but  it  strikes  with  iron 
hands.  God  does  not  pay  at  the  end  of  every 
week,  but  at  last  He  pays. 

I  have  heard  of  a  Swiss  peasant  who  had 
built  his  cottage  on  one  of  the  lower  slopes  of 
a  mighty  mountain  that  reared  its  great  white 
shoulders  high  above  him.  One  springtime, 
through  the  sudden  breaking  up  of  the  long 
winter,  the  site  of  the  cottage  grew  perilous,  and 
his  neighbours  warned  him  of  the  avalanche.  But 
he  only  smiled  at  their  fears  ;  he  had  watched 
the  seasons  come  and  go  these  many  years  ;  no 
evil  had  befallen  him,  the  avalanche  would  not 
come,  in  his  day  at  least.  "  It  is  coming,  it  is 
coming,"  they  said,  with  their  finger  pointed  up- 
ward ;  but  he  only  shook  his  head  and  went  his 
way.      But  one   day,  on  the   heights   above,  there 


A  Yo2mg  Man  s  Religion 


was  a  slip,  a  rush,  and  a  roar  ;  and  there  to-day 
the  peasant  lies  with  ten  thousand  tons  of  debris 
for  his  tomb !  Be  not  deceived ;  God  is  not 
mocked,  and  if  we,  in  the  hardness  and  impeni- 
tence of  our  hearts,  are  treasuring  up  for  ourselves 
wrath  in  the  day  of  wrath  and  revelation  of  the 
righteous  judgment  of  God,  in  that  day,  as  surely 
as  there  is  a  God  that  judgeth  in  the  earth,  it 
will  fall  upon  us  and  we  shall  be  undone  for  ever. 
What,  then,  shall  we  do,  and  whither  shall 
we  turn  ?  "  As  Paul  reasoned  of  righteousness, 
temperance,  and  the  judgment  to  come,  Felix 
was  terrified,  and  answered,  '  Go  thy  way  for 
this  time  ;  and  when  I  have  a  convenient  season 
I  will  call  thee  unto  me.' "  That  is  one  thing  we 
may  do  ;  we  may  shut  our  eyes  to  our  peril,  and 
even  snap  our  fingers  at  the  avalanche,  and  dally, 
like  light-hearted  fools,  on  the  volcano's  slopes, 
though  the  seismometer  warn  us  of  our  impend- 
ing doom.  That  is  to  choose  the  way  of  death. 
And  the  way  of  life  ?  Paul  points  us  to  it  when 
he  writes  of  "  Jesus,  which  delivereth  us  from  the 
wrath  to  come."  And  if  now  we  turn  to  Him 
and  hide  in  Him,  then  "  in  that  day,"  when  He 
Cometh  to  judge  the  world,  His  face — the  face  of 
Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne — shall  smite  us 
not  with  terror,  but  with  gladness  ;  for  "  there  is  no 
condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus." 


And  lo  !  from  sin,  and  grief,  and  shame 
I  hide  me,  Jesus,  in  Thy  name." 


THE    UNPARDONABLE    SIN 


"  The  faintest  longing  to  love,  is  love;  the  very  dread  to  miss  for 
ever  the  face  of  God,  is  love;  the  very  terror  at  that  dreadful  state 
where  none  can  love,  is  love.  Feelest  thou  thyself  dry,  seared,  impeni- 
tent, bezvildered,  stupefied,  withoiU  feeling  ?^yea,  if  there  be  any  who 
can  himself  scarcely  tell  what  he  believes,  or  whether  he  believes  at  all, 
let  him  feel  himself  abandoned  to  Satan,  tmable  to  distinguish  whether 
blasphemous  and  impure  thoughts  be  of  his  own  mind  or  the  darts  of 
the  Evil  One  driven  through  hi?n  ;  let  him  be  this  and  all  beside  which 
can  be  imagined  miserable,  so  that  covered  with  the  ulcers  of  his  sins 
he  seem  to  himself  to  be  all  one  wound,  tmbound,  unclosed^  ujisoftened, 
a  very  living  death  ;  yet  if  he  have  any  longing  to  be  delivered  from 
the  body  of  his  death,  he  has  not  conwiitted  the  tinpardonable  sin. 
These  around  him  may  say,  '  Lord,  he  stinketh ' ;  the  heavy  stone  of 
earthly  sins  may  lie  upon  him,  and  he  lie  motionless,  bound  hand  and 
foot  with  grave-clothes,  so  that  he  cannot  approach  unto  Jesus,  and  his 
eyes  wrapped  round  so  that  he  should  not  see  Him  ;  yet  He  whom  he 
cannot  seek  may  seek  him  ;  that  voice  which  awakeneth  the  dead  can 
reach  him  yet,  and  he  may  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and, 
hearing,  live.'" — Dr.   Pusey. 


XVI 
THE   UNPARDONABLE  SIN 

**  Therefojx  I  say  tinto  you^  Every  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  for- 
given tmto  men  ;  but  the  blasphemy  against  the  Spirit  shall  not 
be  forgiven.  And  whosoever  shall  speak  a  word  against  the  Son 
of  man,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him ;  but  whosoever  shall  speak 
against  the  Holy  Spirit,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him,  neither  in 
this  world,  nor  in  that  which  is  to  come.'''' — Matt.  xii.  31,  32. 

*'  Verily  I  say  tmto  you.  All  their  sins  shall  be  forgiven  unto  the 
sons  of  men,  and  their  blasphemies  wherewith  soever  they  shall 
blaspheme  ;  but  whosoever  shall  blaspheme  against  the  Holy  Spirit 
hath  never  forgiveness,  but  is  guilty  of  an  eternal  sin  :  because 
they  said.  He  hath  an  unclean  spirit. ^^ — Mark  iii.  28,  29,  30. 

'""T^HERE  are  perhaps  no  words  in  the  whole 
-1-  Bible  which  have  been  the  cause  of  so 
much  misunderstanding  and  pain  as  these.  Some 
of  you  will  remember  how  this  saying  of  our  Lord 
tormented  John  Bunyan  during  those  terrible 
spiritual  experiences  of  which  he  has  left  us  so 
graphic  a  record  in  his  Grace  Abounding.  When, 
he  tells  us, "  with  sad  and  careful  heart,"  he  began 
to  search  in  the  Word  of  God,  if  he  could  in  any 
place  espy  a  word  of  promise  or  any  encouraging 
sentence  by  which  he  might  take  relief,  he  lighted 

R 


242  A  Young  Man  s  Religion 

on  this  third  chapter  of  Mark's  Gospel,  from 
which  I  have  just  quoted.  "  And  now,"  he  says, 
"  I  was  both  a  burden  and  a  terror  to  myself ;  nor 
did  I  ever  so  know  as  now  what  it  was  to  be 
weary  of  my  life  and  yet  afraid  to  die.  Oh,  how 
gladly  now  would  I  have  been  anybody  but  my- 
self !  anything  but  a  man  !  and  in  any  condition 
but  mine  own  !  For  there  was  nothing  did  pass 
more  frequently  over  my  mind  than  that  it  was 
impossible  for  me  to  be  forgiven  my  transgression 
and  to  be  saved  from  wrath  to  come."  "  These 
things,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  would  so  break  and 
confound  my  spirit  that  I  could  not  tell  what  to 
do  ;  I  thought  at  times  they  would  have  broke 
my  wits.  Oh,  none  knows  the  terrors  of  those 
days  but  myself."  And  therein  is  John  Bunyan 
but  the  type  of  multitudes.  "  How  immense," 
says  John  Wesley — and  perhaps  no  man  ever  had 
such  an  opportunity  of  judging  in  a  matter  of  this 
sort  as  the  great  evangelist  of  the  last  century — 
"  is  the  number  in  every  nation  throughout  the 
Christian  world  of  those  who  have  been  more  or 
less  distressed  on  account  of  this  scripture  ! 
What  multitudes  in  this  kingdom  have  been  per- 
plexed above  measure  upon  this  very  account  1 " 
And  if  any  one  thinks  that  this  is  the  language  of 
exaggeration,  let  him  put  himself  through  a  course 
of  reading  in  religious  biography,  and  let  him 
mark  the  number  of  those  whom  these  words  of 
Jesus  have  put  upon  the  rack,  or  who  have  been 
appealed  to  for  help  by  those  who  have  been  so 


The  Unpardonable  Sin  243 

troubled.  I  will  be  bold  to  say  that  it  would  be 
difficult  to  find  a  minister  of  any  Christian  Church 
who  has  had  so  much  as  twelve  months'  experience 
in  dealing  with  men  and  women  who  has  not  had, 
as  I  myself  have  again  and  again,  to  try  to  com- 
fort as  best  he  could  some  stricken  soul  whom 
these  words  of  Jesus  have  filled  with  unspeakable 
anguish.  Indeed,  there  have  been  cases  not  a  few 
in  which  long  brooding  over  these  words  and  the 
torturing  dread  that  they  had  committed  what 
they  called  "  the  unpardonable  sin  "  have  driven 
men  and  women  to  the  verge  of  insanity  itself. 
A  distinguished  minister  of  the  Congregational 
Church  has  left  it  on  record  that  the  first  grave 
task  set  him  in  his  first  charge  as  a  Christian 
pastor  was  to  carry  what  comfort  he  could  to  the 
widow  of  his  predecessor,  who,  in  the  sudden 
gloom  into  which  she  had  been  plunged  by  her 
husband's  death,  had  become  possessed  of  the 
idea  that  she,  devout  and  devoted  woman  as  she 
was,  had  somehow  committed  this  fatal  sin,  this 
sin  which  hath  never  forgiveness.  And  notwith- 
standing all  that  he  and  others  with  him  could 
do,  it  was  impossible  to  unfix  the  grasp  of  this 
horrible  idea  upon  her  mind.  With  an  almost  in- 
credible ingenuity  she  turned  all  grounds  for  hope 
into  food  for  her  despair  ;  and  in  a  few  weeks  she 
passed  from  their  care  into  an  asylum,  only  to  be 
carried  from  the  asylum  to  her  grave.  It  is  a 
terrible  thing  to  think  of,  and  a  terrible  thing  to 
have  to  say,  but  it  is  a  fact   beyond   all  dispute 


244  ^  Young  Mails  Religion 

that  there  are  men  and  women  not  criminal,  nor 
vicious,  nor  in  aught  sinners  above  all  the  rest, 
but  tender,  sensitive  souls  who  to-night  are  dying 
in  a  madhouse  because  Jesus  once  said,  "  Whoso- 
ever shall  blaspheme  against  the  Holy  Spirit  hath 
never  forgiveness."  For  our  own  sake,  then,  for 
the  sake  of  others  whom  perhaps  we  may  some 
day  be  able  to  help,  and,  may  I  say  it,  for  Christ's 
sake,  that  the  shadow  which  our  misunderstand- 
ings have  cast  upon  His  name  may  be  lifted, 
ought  we  not  to  seek  a  clear  and  exact  under- 
standing of  what  it  was  that  He  meant  when  He 
spake  these  words  ?  Let  me  try  to  show  you  in 
the  first  place  what  Jesus  did  mean,  and  in  the 
second  place  what  Jesus  did  not  mean. 


I 
"  Whosoever  shall  speak  a  word  against  the 
Son  of  Man,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him."  What  a 
word  that  is  !  Mark  the  tremendous  assumption 
which  one  writer  has  pointed  out  for  us  :  the  critic 
is  ahvays  wrong.  "  Speak  against  Me,"  Christ 
says,  "  and  you  shall  be — forgiven."  Never  7nan 
spake  like  this  man.  Who  of  earth's  best  and 
greatest  ever  dared  to  say  to  his  fellows.  Criticise 
me,  judge  me,  speak  against  me,  and  I  will  forgive 
you  ?  Verily,  it  is  a  greater  than  Solomon,  or 
any  of  the  sons  of  men  that  is  here.  The  man 
who  speaks  against  Christ  has  need  of  forgiveness  ; 
and  that  forgiveness,  Christ  says,  he  shall   have. 


The  Unpardonable  Sin  245 

Men  speak  against  Christ  ignorantly  and  in  un- 
belief, not  knowing  Him  as  He  is,  seeing  Him 
only  through  the  thick  haze  of  false  tradition,  or 
the  blurring,  blinding  mists  of  His  followers'  in- 
fidelity, and  when  men  so  speak  against  Christ 
their  words,  He  says,  shall  be  forgiven  them. 

"  But,"  He  goes  on  to  say — and  these  are  the 
difficult  words, — "  whosoever  shall  speak  against 
the  Holy  Spirit,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him,  neither 
in  this  world,  nor  in  that  which  is  to  come."  Now 
these  words  mean  something.  They  do  not  mean, 
as  I  will  try  to  show  in  a  moment,  what  they 
have  often  been  supposed  to  mean ;  but  they 
mean  something  ;  they  are  no  idle,  empty  threat. 
Christ  never  spoke  simply  to  frighten  men.  One 
excellent  expositor,  whose  praise  is  in  all  the 
Churches  for  his  lucid  and  helpful  writings,  but 
who,  unfortunately,  the  moment  he  turns  to  con- 
sider the  sterner  aspects  of  Christ's  teaching, 
seems  to  give  his  judgment  to  the  four  winds  of 
heaven,  says  of  this  particular  passage  that  in  it 
"  our  Lord  simply  states  a  moral  truism,  as  we 
might  have  inferred  from  the  casual  and  un- 
emphatic  manner  of  His  speech."  This  is  simply 
trifling  with  us,  and  worse  than  trifling.  What- 
ever may  be  the  precise  significance  to  be  attached 
to  this  saying  of  our  Lord,  men  have  always  felt, 
and  have  rightly  felt,  that  no  more  tremendous 
words  ever  fell  from  his  lips.  So  far  from  being 
merely  "  casual  and  unemphatic,"  they  were 
evidently  spoken  with  the  most  solemn  emphasis. 


246  A  Yoimg  Mans  Religion 

They  are  reported  in  reduplicated  form  by  three 
of  the  four  Evangelists,  and  in  Mark's  version 
they  are  prefaced  by  that  emphatic  "  Verily  I  say 
unto  you,"  which  Christ  never  used  except  as  a 
kind  of  index- finger  to  show  that  something  of 
special  and  peculiar  moment  was  about  to  follow. 
No  ;  to  empty  the  words  of  their  significance  is 
not  to  explain  them.  Respect  alike  for  our 
intelligence  and  for  Christ  as  a  Divine  Teacher 
demands  some  worthier  method  of  interpretation. 

If  I  am  not  mistaken,  the  key  to  this  difHcult 
lock  is  already  in  the  lock  itself.  What  I  mean 
is  this  :  When  Mark  has  reported  our  Lord's  say- 
ing he  himself  adds  by  way  of  explanation, 
"  Because  they  said  He  hath  an  unclean  spirit." 
"  Because  they  said  " — obviously,  then,  this  is  not 
an  isolated  saying,  it  is  linked  to  the  incident 
which  immediately  precedes  it,  and  if  we  are  to 
interpret  it  aright  we  must  read  it  in  the  light 
which  that  incident  casts  upon  it.  The  incident, 
in  brief,  was  this  :  Christ  had  wrought  a  miracle 
of  healing  on  one  possessed  with  a  devil  blind  and 
dumb,  "  insomuch  that  the  dumb  man  spake  and 
saw."  But  when  the  Pharisees  heard  it  they  said, 
"  This  man  doth  not  cast  out  devils,  but  by 
Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the  devils."  How  did 
Christ  answer  them  ?  First  He  called  them  unto 
Him,  and  quietly  reasoned  with  them  :  "  How," 
He  asked,  "  can  Satan  cast  out  Satan  ?  If  a 
kingdom  be  divided  against  itself  that  kingdom 
cannot  stand.     And  if  a  house  be  divided  against 


The  Unpardonable  Sin  247 

itself  that  house  will  not  be  able  to  stand.  And 
if  Satan  hath  risen  up  against  himself  and  is 
divided,  he  cannot  stand,  but  hath  an  end."  Thus 
out  of  their  own  mouth  Christ  convicts  them  of 
sheer  irrationality  ;  they  have  only  to  think  for  a 
moment,  and  reason  herself  will  turn  upon  them 
and  rend  them.  But  the  words  of  the  Pharisees 
were  not  merely  illogical,  they  were  sinful, 
diabolical.  They  sprang  not  so  much  from  a 
perverted  mind  as  from  a  diseased  heart.  And 
therefore,  as  Christ  goes  on,  His  tones  deepen, 
His  words  grow  more  solemn,  and  with  His  eye 
on  the  spiritual  condition  that  alone  had  made 
their  language  possible,  He  said,  "  Whosoever 
shall  blaspheme  against  the  Holy  Spirit  hath 
never  forgiveness."  Mark,  He  does  not  say  they 
have  already  committed  this  sin,  but  His  words  at 
least  imply  that  they  were  tending  towards  it, 
and  that  even  as  He  spake  to  them  they  stood  in 
grave  and  imminent  peril. 

The  Pharisees  were  not  condemned  because  of 
any  word  which  in  ignorance  they  spake  against 
the  Son  of  Man.  Their  sin  was  this,  that  face  to 
face  with  a  work  of  mercy  and  of  love,  with  that 
which  they  knew  to  be  good,  they  nevertheless 
dared  to  declare  it  to  be  a  thing  of  the  devil  : 
"  This  man  doth  not  cast  out  devils,  but  by 
Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the  devils."  They  were 
throwing  in  their  lot  with  them  that  put  bitter  for 
sweet  and  darkness  for  light,  that  say  to  evil, 
"  Evil,  come,   be    thou   my  good."     "  They   have 


248  A  Yotmg  Mails  Religion 

both  seen  and  hated  both  Me  and  My  Father "  : 
so  Christ  declared  at  a  later  hour  of  His  ministry  ; 
and  this  was  the  sin  of  the  Pharisees.  A  man 
may  even  hate  God  and  his  sin  shall  be  forgiven 
him,  for  his  hate  may  be  but  the  fruit  of  his 
ignorance,  and  pass  with  it.  That  which  men  do 
blindfolded,  not  knowing  the  thing  they  do,  God's 
mercy  is  always  large  enough  to  cover.  But  when 
men  sin  with  both  eyes  wide  open,  when,  knowing 
full  well  the  thing  they  do  they  take  evil  to  be 
their  portion,  when  "  they  have  both  seen  and 
hated "  the  true  and  the  good — then  what  can 
God  do  ?  "  This  is  the  condemnation  that  light 
is  come  into  the  world,  and  men  loved  darkness 
rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds  were  evil." 

And  now,  I  think,  we  shall  begin  to  understand 
why  Christ  said  of  this  sin  that  "  it  hath  never 
forgiveness."  It  was  no  single  act  of  sin  of  which 
He  spoke,  but  rather  a  condition  of  soul,  a 
spiritual  attitude  ;  and  for  this  He  says  there  is 
no  forgiveness,  not  because  of  any  unwillingness 
on  God's  part  to  forgive,  but  because  he  who  has 
chosen  to  make  it  his  own  has  made  repentance, 
and  therefore  forgiveness,  to  be  impossible.  Such 
an  one  does  not  ask  the  Divine  forgiveness,  he 
does  not  want  it,  he  will  not  have  it,  though  it  be 
thrust  upon  him.  He  flings  God's  gifts  back  in 
His  face  ;  he  sees  the  miracle  of  the  Divine  pity 
and  laughs  it  to  scorn. 

Thinking  over  this  dark  saying  of  our  Lord 
we  naturally  call   to  mind   the  "  sin  unto  death " 


The  Unpardonable  Sin  249 

of  which  the  Apostle  John  speaks — "  not  concern- 
ing this  do  I  say  that  a  man  should  make  request" 
unto  God — and  the  words,  not  less  mysterious,  in 
which  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
declares  of  some  that  "  it  is  impossible  to  renew 
them  again  unto  repentance."  The  best  exposition 
of  these  three  difficult  words  of  Scripture  must 
still  leave  many  questions  unanswered,  but  one 
thing  at  least  seems  clear,  that  that  to  which  they 
all  point  is,  I  repeat,  no  single  act  of  sin,  blacker 
than  words  can  paint  it  though  it  may  be,  but 
rather  that  fixed  and  permanent  and  final  con- 
dition of  soul  into  which  it  is  awfully  possible 
for  a  man  at  last  to  bring  himself,  who  "hath 
trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God,"  and  con- 
sciously, wilfully,  and  persistently  "  hath  done 
despite  unto  the  Spirit  of  grace." 

Further  than  this  we  may  not  go.  Who  they 
are  who  to-day  are  thus  putting  themselves  for 
ever  beyond  the  power  of  even  God's  forgiveness 
is  not  for  us  to  judge.  As  I  have  already  pointed 
out,  Christ  does  not  say  that  even  the  Pharisees, 
near  as  they  had  come  to  the  brink  of  the  preci- 
pice, had  actually  gone  over  it.  But  He  warned 
them,  and  He  warns  us,  that  a  man  may  so  take 
evil  to  be  his  portion,  may  so  hug  it  to  himself, 
that  at  last — at  last — repentance  is  impossible  ; 
the  Divine  forgiveness  is  never  asked  and  never 
wanted. 

This,  I  think,  is  what  Christ  meant.  Now  let 
us  turn  for  a  moment  to  consider — 


250  A  Young  Mans  Religion 


II 

What  Christ  did  not  mean.  And  for  once,  I 
confess,  I  am  more  anxious  about  the  negative 
than  the  positive  aspect  of  the  truth.  It  may 
well  be  that  for  some  my  attempted  exposition  of 
the  text  has  done  nothing  save  make  them  more 
conscious  than  ever  of  its  difficulty.  But,  how- 
ever that  may  be,  I  want  to  make  it  clear  as  the 
noonday  that  neither  here  nor  anywhere  in  God's 
Word  is  it  said  that  there  are  sins  of  which  a  man 
may  repent,  earnestly  and  with  tears,  and  yet 
which  God  will  refuse  to  forgive.  Christ  did  not 
mean  that.  Let  me  say  it  in  the  plainest  and 
most  unequivocal  language  1  can  command. 
Christ  did  not  mean  that  any  deed  of  evil,  any 
sudden  transgression,  foul  and  red  with  brother's 
blood  though  it  may  be,  can  place  a  man  for  ever 
beyond  the  pale  of  the  mercy  of  God.  Christ  did 
not  mean  that  a  day  will  ever  come  when  true 
repentance  will  be  unavailing,  when  the  love  and 
forgiveness  of  God  will  not  leap  forth  in  response 
to  the  penitence  of  man.  Christ  did  not  mean 
that.  How  could  he  have  meant  it  ?  It  would 
have  been  for  Him  Himself  to  have  given  the  lie 
to  His  whole  life.  It  would  have  been  for  Him 
who  hung  upon  the  Cross  Himself  to  have  made 
that  Cross  of  none  effect. 

To  make  this  plain  is  really  all  that  just  now 
I  am  concerned  about.  And  if  I  have  helped  no 
one  to  lay  hold  of  the  right  interpretation  of  the 


The  Unpardonable  Sin  251 

text,  at  least  let  me  help  some  one  that  with  both 
hands  he  may  thrust  from  him  the  wrong  inter- 
pretation of  it.  Believe,  if  need  be  in  spite  of 
what  is  written  here,  that  God  will  always  have 
mercy  upon  all  who  turn  unto  Him  with  true 
purpose  of  heart.  From  the  doubtful  meaning  of 
this  one  difficult  text  I  appeal  to  the  character  of 
God  as  He  has  revealed  Himself  to  us.  I  appeal 
to  all  that  stands  written  in  His  Word.  I  appeal  to 
the  teaching,  the  life  and  the  death  of  Him  whose 
hard  saying  this  is.  And  if  from  this  day  forward 
the  devil  torment  any  man  or  woman  of  us  with 
this  solitary  verse  out  of  God's  Book,  let  us  answer 
and  silence  him  with  this  mighty  threefold  witness. 
I  appeal  to  the  character  of  God.  We  men, 
the  poorest  and  unworthiest  of  us — do  we  think 
of  it  as  we  ought  ? — are  made  in  the  Divine  like- 
ness and  image  ;  tiny  fragments  of  Deity  are  we, 
able  even  in  our  fragmentariness  to  flash  back 
some  gleam  of  the  likeness  Divine.  From  that 
which  we  are  we  may  learn  something  of  what  He 
is.  "  God's  possible  is  taught  by  His  world's 
loving."  And  if  in  us,  broken  and  bruised  by 
pride  and  envy  and  hate  as  we  are,  love  and  pity 
and  forgiveness  can  yet  wake  to  answer  to  the 
cry  of  want  and  woe  and  sin  ;  if  we,  being  evil, 
know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  our  children, 
who  shall  measure  the  "  how  much  more  "  of  our 
Father's  pitying  love?  Is  not  His  high  higher 
than  our  highest  ?  Is  not  His  good  better  than 
our  best  ?      How,  then,  shall  we  dare  think   Him 


252  A  Yotmg  Mans  Religion 

less  good  even  than  we  are  ?  Why  will  we 
slander  Him  as  though  He  were  less  willing  to 
receive  us  than  we  are  to  seek  Him  ?  I  have 
read  of  an  Arab  chief,  whose  laws  forbade  the 
rearing  of  his  female  offspring,  that  the  only  tears 
he  ever  shed  were  when  his  daughter  brushed  the 
dust  from  his  beard  as  he  buried  her  in  a  living 
grave.  But  where  are  the  tears  of  God  as  He 
thrusts  back  into  the  outer  darkness  of  their  sin 
them  that  stretch  to  Him*  lame  hands  of  faith  and 
pray  to  be  forgiven  ?  "  Hath  God  forgotten  to  be 
gracious?  Is  His  mercy  clean  gone  for  ever? "  Nay, 
verily;  IwillanswerHimoutof  His  own  mouth:  He 
is  a  God  ready  to  pardon.  He  delighteth  in  mercy. 
I  appeal  to  all  that  is  written  in  God's  Word. 
Turn  to  its  first  page,  and  what  is  it  that  we  read? 
"  And  the  Lord  God  called  unto  the  man  and 
said  unto  him,  Where  art  thou  ?  "  So  does  the 
Good  Shepherd  seek  that  which  is  gone  astray. 
Turn  to  its  last  page,  and  again  what  is  it  that 
we  read  ?  "  And  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride  say. 
Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come. 
And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come.  And  whoso- 
ever will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely." 
And  the  last  page  of  the  Book  bends  round  to 
meet  the  first,  and  the  clasp  that  makes  of  Old 
and  New  one  Book  is  the  golden  clasp  of  love. 
Open  it  where  you  will — in  the  law  or  the  psalms, 
in  the  history  or  the  prophets — and  everywhere 
one  hears,  as  it  were,  the  pleading  wail  of  the 
heart  of  God  :  Turn  ye,  turn  ye,  for  why  will  ye 


The  Unpardonable  Sin  253 

die,  O  house  of  Israel  ?  "  And  is  it  even  think- 
able that  Jesus  should  have  said  that  there  is 
some  sin  so  heinous  that  though  a  man  repent  of 
it,  and  turn  and  seek  to  be  forgiven,  God  will  yet 
answer  him  with  an  eternal  nay. 

Above  all,  I  appeal  to  Jesus  Himself.  "  Lord," 
asked  one  of  His  disciples,  "  how  oft  shall  my 
brother  sin  against  me  and  I  forgive  him  ?  Until 
seven  times  ?  "  Mark  well  our  Lord's  answer  :  "  I 
say  not  unto  thee.  Until  seven  times  " — a  number 
you  can  count  upon  your  fingers — "  until  seventy 
times  seven,"  an  infinite,  uncountable  number ; 
what  has  love  to  do  with  arithmetic  ?  But  if  thus 
He  bids  me  forgive,  is  it  not  thus  that  he  forgives 
Himself?  Can  it  be  that  to  me,  man,  the  sinner. 
He  says,  "  until  seventy  times  seven,"  while  He, 
God,  the  Saviour,  is  content  with  a  poor  "  seven 
times "  ?  Nay,  verily  ;  'tis  the  yoke  he  carries 
Himself  that  He  bids  me  carry  ;  'tis  the  law  of 
His  own  being  He  would  make  the  law  of  mine  ; 
and  "  until  seventy  times  seven  "  will  He  forgive 
them  that  turn  unto  Him. 

"  And  when  He  beheld  the  city  " — what  city  ? 
Jerusalem,  the  city  where  men  were  to  slay  Him, 
where  they  would  put  up  the  rough  cross  of  wood 
and  pin  Him  to  it.  He  knew  all  about  it ;  but 
"  when  He  beheld  the  city  He  wept  over  it."  "  O 
Jerusalem,  Jerusalem"  —  like  the  smothered  cry 
of  a  mother's  breaking  heart — "  how  often  would 
I  have  gathered  thy  children  together  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  brood  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would 


2  54  ^  Yoimg  Mans  Religion 

not !  "  And  when  He  came  back  triumphant  from 
the  tomb,  and  His  disciples  were  gathered  about 
Him  for  the  last  time,  what  is  it  that  He  tells 
them  ?  "  Go  ye,  preach  to  every  creature  under 
heaven  repentance  and  remission  of  sins,  beginning 
at  Jerusalem."  "  Begiwiijig  at  Jerusalem  " — it  was 
as  though  He  had  said.  Go,  seek  out  Annas  and 
Caiaphas  and  all  the  men  that  hunted  Me  down 
to  death  and  say  unto  them,  "  Through  this  Man 
whom  ye  with  wicked  hands  did  take  and  crucify 
is  preached  unto  you  the  gospel  of  forgiveness  "  ; 
find  out  the  Roman  soldier  that  thrust  his  spear 
into  My  side,  and  tell  him  there  is  a  nearer  way 
to  My  heart  than  that ;  say  to  him  and  to  all  men 
that  whosoever  will  may  come,  since  Christ  has 
died.  Unpardonable  sin  !  Why,  brethren,  the 
coming  of  Christ,  the  Cross  of  Christ,  all  He  was 
and  did  and  bore  for  men  are  all  emptied  of  their 
sacred  meaning  if  it  be  not  true  that  "  there  is  no 
unpardonable  sin,  except  the  sin  of  refusing  the 
pardon  which  avails  for  all  sin." 

Therefore,  if  a  man  fear  that  he  have  committed 
this  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  this  sin  which 
hath  never  forgiveness,  let  him  know  full  well  that 
he  has  not  so  much  as  come  near  to  it ;  and  of  that 
I  want  no  stronger  proof  than  just  this  his  fear. 
Whatever  else  may  be  said  of  that  terrible  condi- 
tion of  soul  to  which  Christ  here  refers,  there  must 
always  go  along  with  it  an  utter  spiritual  numb- 
ness and  unconcern.  So  that,  again  I  say,  if  a  man 
ask  himself  with  fears  and  tears  and  trembling  if  he 


The  Unpardonable  Sin  255 

have  sinned  this  sin  against  God,  his  own  fears  are 
the  best  answer  ;  if  he  had,  he  would  know  no  fear. 
Hear,  then,  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  ; 
he  that  willy  may.  The  hard  and  impenitent  heart 
that  hardens  itself  in  its  impenitence  may  baffle 
even  the  Divine  love  ;  but  a  broken  and  a  contrite 
heart,  O  God,  Thou  wilt  never  despise.  There  is  a 
beautiful  story  told  in  connection  with  the  work  of 
the  late  Professor  Henry  Drummond  among  the 
students  attending  the  Edinburgh  University.  He 
was  conducting,  several  years  ago,  the  usual  Sunday 
evening  service,- but  that  night  when  he  came  to 
deliver  the  address,  instead  of  reading  anything 
from  the  Scriptures  by  way  of  text,  he  drew  from 
his  pocket  an  anonymous  letter  which  he  had 
received  during  the  preceding  week.  The  letter 
was  written  by  a  medical  student,  by  a  man  who 
had  fallen  from  one  sin  to  another,  until  he  had 
sounded  the  lowest  deeps  of  beastliness  and  un- 
nameable  lust,  and  its  closing  words  were  weighted 
as  with  the  despair  of  a  lost  soul.  The  Professor 
read  two  or  three  sentences  from  it,  and  then  he 
said,  with  a  quivering  voice,  that  if  only  the  man 
who  had  written  it  had  put  his  name  and  address 
to  it  he  would  have  been  over  by  the  next  train 
from  Glasgow  to  see  him.  "  But  it  may  be,"  he 
said,  "  though  he  would  not  do  that,  he  is  here  to- 
night in  the  Hall,  and  I  am  going  to  speak  to  him." 
And  then,  picking  out  that  one  imaginary  man  in 
the  thousand,  he  preached  to  him  in  his  own 
simple,  wonderful,  winning  way  the  Gospel  of  the 


256  A  Yotmg  Mail  s  Religion 

love  of  Christ.  He  told  him  how  that  when  Christ 
was  here  on  earth  He  lived  amongst  sinners,  He 
looked  out  for  the  man  that  was  "  down,"  how  a 
man's  very  badness  was  just  his  claim  on  One  who 
came,  not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners.  Then 
the  speaker  went  on  to  say  how,  as  he  had  entered 
our  city  that  day,  he  saw  a  beautiful  white  cloud 
resting  over  it.  Whence  had  the  cloud  come  ? 
The  sunbeams  had  gone  down  into  the  city,  down 
into  its  alleys  and  slums,  and  from  noisome  pools 
and  puddles  had  drawn  up  the  moisture  and 
purified  it,  and  now  it  lay  there  a  fleecy  cloud, 
white  and  pure,  in  God's  own  heavens.  And  so 
Christ  comes  into  our  life  and  out  from  its  foul- 
ness, and  vileness,  and  filth  He  lifts  men,  making 
them  clean,  till  they  are  meet  at  last  to  stand  even 
in  the  pure  presence  of  our  God. 

I  want  to  ring  that  same  great  bell  of  hope 
again  this  day.  He  that  will  may.  No  man  goes 
backward  to  perdition  ;  there  is  no  hell  for  the  man 
whose  face  is  towards  heaven.  Sin  may  be  in 
front  of  me,  baffling  me,  beating  me,  driving  me 
back,  but  if  my  face  be  towards  God  and  goodness, 
while  He  sits  upon  His  throne.  He  will  never  suffer 
me  at  last  to  fall  from  Him.  "  If  any  man  will  " 
— wilt  thou  ?  And  if  this  day  thou  wilt,  then, 
whatever  thy  past  may  be,  behold  all  things  shall 
become  new. 


Printed  by  R.  &  R.  Clakk,  Limited,  Edinburgh. 


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